The state benefits system mega-thread.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Not as simple as that. All any consultants letter to a GP will say is the diagnosis etc, and not how the patient might be affected by any condition.

And that's why its so important to write down on the forms how their medical condition or conditions affects them on a daily basis.

[nomadking]

Originally Posted by denphone

And that's why its so important to write down on the forms how their medical condition or conditions affects them on a daily basis.

But where does the "evidence" for that come from?

[denphone]

Originally Posted by nomadking

But where does the "evidence" for that come from?

You ask your GP for a supporting letter stating how the condition affects you on a daily basis plus you send in copies of all your hospital letters plus your benefit form.

[Jimmy-J]

Originally Posted by denphone

You ask your GP for a supporting letter stating how the condition affects you on a daily basis plus you send in copies of all your hospital letters plus your benefit form.

And as I said, they can get this same information directly from the patients GP.

Originally Posted by Jimmy-J

And as I said, they can get this same information directly from the patients GP.

It's not about the disability/sickness, it's about it's effect on the person's day to day life.

https://www.gov.uk/pip/eligibility

How could the doctor know if they needed help with

preparing or eating food
washing, bathing and using the toilet
dressing and undressing
reading and communicating
managing your medicines or treatments
making decisions about money
engaging with other people

Claimants don't get benefit because they are disabled, they get benefit for the (negative) effects the disability has.

[Jimmy-J]

Originally Posted by Hugh

It's not about the disability/sickness, it's about it's effect on the person's day to day life.

But it's the disability/sickness that causes the negative effect in their life isn't it...

How could the doctor know if they needed help with

preparing or eating food
washing, bathing and using the toilet
dressing and undressing
reading and communicating
managing your medicines or treatments
making decisions about money
engaging with other people

They should have that information on record, my GP knows exactly how my disabilities / sickness effect me and what I need help with in my day to day life.

Claimants don't get benefit because they are disabled, they get benefit for the (negative) effects the disability has.

That doesn't make sense to me, if the person wasn't disabled or sick, then surely they wouldn't be making claims for PIP to help them in their day to day life.

[Mr Pharmacist]

Atos apparently fined by the DWP. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...r-9529005.html

Loving the way ATOS are the scapegoats for running a government ordained policy

Originally Posted by Jimmy-J

That doesn't make sense to me, if the person wasn't disabled or sick, then surely they wouldn't be making claims for PIP to help them in their day to day life.

Makes perfect sense ,if disabled people got payed for the disability then i would be getting paid ,as it is i don't get a bean because modern medicine manages my disease very well and allows me work, at the moment the effects of the disease on my daily life are minimal so no disability payments which is exactly as it should be .

[Qtx]

Someone with cerebral palsy could function pretty close to someone without it while another person with palsy could be completely dependant on a carer. The same could be said for things like aspergers. If you suffered from aspie symptoms but had no formal diagnosis, I would expect it would be hard to claim even though it should be based on symptoms rather than the name of the disability. A gp might not pick up on someone with aspergers unless it's one of the obvious cases. That's if the person actually goes to the gp. Some people have hardly ever been to see their gp. Some depressed people might not bother too. So there would be no GP records about these kind of people, so nothing to back them up if they say they have a mental disability and try to claim for it.

[AdamD]

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

To be fair GPs generally are pretty useless.

I think that's why they don't bother contacting GP's anymore, or they don't take the GP's diagnosis into account in their decisions.
Out of the four GP's at my local practice, only ONE was actually genuinely interested in helping me.
It took years, to get the help I needed.
Dealing with ATOS just makes things a lot worse, because all they did for me at least, was run through a pre written checklist/script.
The problem is the government doesn't make a point of keeping checks on people on benefits.
If someone is ill, they should be making sure the person is getting treatment and help, but they don't
From experience, they just sit back and let people take in a weekly/fortnightly giro or direct debit from the tax payer, without a worry.
The problem with that is, if you're suffering with a mental condition and you are allowed to sit at home all day, everyday, getting money from the government with no intervention or help, you get used to it and you're in the wrong state of mind anyways, so you end up accepting that as the norm and you feel almost comfortable doing what others perceive as leeching off tax payers, because no one, not even your GP, wants to get you the help you need.
It took me years to get the help I needed, because all my GP's wanted to do, was keep dishing out drugs and saying "come back in 6 months if you don't get better".

Ah the old "come back in six months" I remember it so well that's all I got off the first consultant I was referred too diagnosing me with the easiest fit he could come up with whilst filling in his golf diary. Joke is if he'd done his job I would have been able to work for most of the last thirteen years instead of having to live on benefit and might possibly still be working, the hate I have for that man is still as raw now as it was then.

[Osem]

Pip's much better for Osem Jnr #2 as, unlike DLA, it recognises the manner in which his disabilities actually affect and restrict him. So far it's a great bit from us.

[weenie]

Let's hope it helps many other's who need it too. My friend has Crohns and she had to appeal to get her DLA and while waiting for the appeal it made her illness worse with the stress it caused them.

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by weenie

Let's hope it helps many other's who need it too. My friend has Crohns and she had to appeal to get her DLA and while waiting for the appeal it made her illness worse with the stress it caused them.

That appears to be one of the major issues at the moment, going through the process is extremely stressful and some people who should be getting it just give up. I know someone who clearly has problems but had to fight and appeal for almost two years before he got the DLA. Had such a big lump sum in the end they had to spend some of it quickly otherwise they would have had some other benefit stopped for having more savings than they were allowed. Have a feeling these back payments pay for quite a few holidays which are needed to get over the stress caused to get as far as a payment.