Hi, I'm going to be applying for PIP not on any meds at present.
Will this make a difference also if you've been diagnosed with Parkinson's it it usual to have a face to face assessment? Thank you.
I don't know much about PIP but if your symptoms affect your life so little that you do not need medication to control the mobility problems etc it would seem unlikely that you will be deemed eligible for financial help to make life more manageable.
Maybe other PWP will be able to offer advice.
Hope all goes well.
GG
I think you'd be looking at a face too face assessment. regardless of pills or not.
I also think you'd have too expand and justify yourself more too the assessor as too why you think you're eligible for PiP other than 'i have been diagnosed', it is how your illness effects you and too what level too score points you need a certain amount too be awarded PiP, e.g symptoms, difficulty in everyday life situations. ability/cognitive/movement/safety ect.
I agree with you GG. PIP is for those whose lives are seriously affected/curtailed by Parkinsons over many years and not those whose symptoms do not, as yet, cause problems with daily living or mobility or are not severe enough to warrant medication.It's not just a case of saying that you have Parkinsons to receive PIP.
PIP is based on how it effects your life and not the condition, you will have a face to face assessment. Here is a link to the points system, see how you score.
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-points-system
Your link didn't appear too fully work Dexon, here's another too the same http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-self-test
I took the test i scored 15 daily living and 8 points in the mobility but that is prob playing down in how i answered.
I am in the support group ESA.
I would like a blue badge at some point soon
Thanks for all the replies I appreciate just saying I have Parkinsons doesn't give me any right to any specific benefit, it was a general question about face to face as I have difficulty in this type of situation. thanks again.
You can request a home visit/assessment if that is of help too you.
All the info on here is right PIP is based on how much the PD is effecting your life ie depression, if it causes you to be incontinent, pain, how many drugs you take & how you feel about taking them also if it is causing you difficulties going out and about. Their are two rates Standard & Enhanced & two components daily living allowance & mobility. And it is a slow claiming process, average 7 months.
You have to show them your worst possible days also it is NON income based.
BB xx
hi
My GF , she was the unwell one in our relationship,before i became unwell.
Applied for pip at the end of April, had a home visit assessment and was awarded enhanced daily living and standard mobility last week, awarded for 2 yrs, we are both surprised and pleased with the outcome and the time it took too arrive at the outcome.
Some people have argued that 1) parkinson's can change so quickly day by day and minute by minute, and 2) it causes speech and memory problems that are worse under pressure, so a face to face assessment can't ever give an accurate assessment of the level of disability the person lives with.
It probably can't help with avoiding a PIP "medical", but if those things affect you, it might be good to get that written down in your application, in case the assessor's evidence is very different from your written evidence, and you need to appeal.
Hope you find a way through
Phone Parkinsons uk and get a support worker out to help you with the forms, they know what they are doing.
From applying initially by phone and then returning the forms by the due date, to being awarded enhanced rate for both components, with no review for 10 years, took 2 weeks. No face to face interview. Decision was based on the information provided on the form and a letter from the Parkinsons nurse specialist. They didn't contact any other professionals, not even the consultant. Maybe having been diagnosed 17 years ago was enough to show that the situation will not improve but will deteriorate further for my OH. I did the telephone initial contact, as OH can't speak on the phone, and then filled in the forms, very slowly, with OH contributing to how his P affects his daily living and mobility.
It was very difficult filling in the form, and many tears were shed during the process of him accepting, and then putting in writing, all the things that he can no longer do, which had been denied for many years, BUT, if you are honest about how P limits your life, then I presume that you will be awarded PIP.
Hi Betty, thanks for yours reply. regards, Graham.
Graham. The essence of PIP is to provide non means tested funding to pay for aids and assistance so you can lead as independent life as reasonably possible. The scenario driven assessments are aimed at identifying how you are affected by PD the majority of the time.
You don't mention your symptoms but say no meds. That could still mean you're massively affected most of the time and technically be assessed as qualifying for PIP.
Your PD symptoms will progress slowly or fast but the current thinking is that the 'expiry' date of a certain levels of meds effectiveness isn't extended by delaying the start. It only means they don't work for as long as they could have. Get the meds sorted that are right for you now so you can live a fuller life without the need for PIP.
Even if you do get PIP with or without a long review date, if the effects of PD lessen e.g. when you start taking the right meds for you, you have to report this, so could easily lose PIP when the right meds are in you.
I know I'd rather be able to not qualify for PIP if I could find a balance of meds to keep me symptom free the majority of the time.
I honestly don't believe you can have pd and be symptom free even if your on the best meds because I know for a fact without my meds my symptoms would take over.
Betty
I was looking back to when the meds could make me feel normal the majority of the time. Now Im happy being mobile some of the time stretched to 4 hrs on some days if out by advancing a doe and facing the consequences later. Ken
Oh I see I thought symptom free was unlikely only because I can remember the day I first notice my tremor and the difference one little pill made.
We can all be so different with the way pd effects us but maybe sometimes we forget that.
Is that a symptom or a senior moment lol xx
bb xx