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PIP assessment whilst inmental hoapital

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1 month 1 week ago #295363 by BeePee
Hi

My partner is in mental hospital at the moment and has been since the beginning of July. Ten days ago, whilst he still confined to ward (he is now allowed 45 minutes accompanied leave a day), his community nurse visited him and made a phone call to a mobile number. He (the community nurse) said he was calling someone from the PIP who wanted to speak to him. He called a mobile number, which he later refsed to give to my partner. He told my partner the first name of the person he was speaking to but not their surname. The person from the PIP then proceeded to ask my partner alot of questions such 'what would happen if you used public transport by yourself?' and 'What difficulties do you have cooking a simple meal' - in other words they gave him an assessment with no prior warning whatsoever, whilst he was in hospital.

My partner currently gets higher rate care and mobility, which he hasn't been paid since the end of July since he has been in hospital. He filled in a renewal form more than a year ago whilst he was living in the community and sent a number of letters from doctors, social workers etc to support this.

It seems very unfair that he was given an assessment whilst in hospital without warning, especailly as he wasn't allowed out at all and was having his meals cooked for him for several months before the call.

What are the rules on this and is there anything we can do about it?

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1 month 1 week ago #295372 by David
Replied by David on topic PIP assessment whilst inmental hoapital
Hi BeePee,

There is nothing in the official PIP Assessment Guide to prevent a PIP health professional from contacting a hospital patient. However if the patient lacks mental capacity and or insight owing to a psychiatric illness then the evidence the patient supplies to the Health Professional should not be treated as accurate. This would give good grounds to challenge any negative PIP assessment. Hopefully common sense will prevail and your partner's PIP award will remain the same.

David

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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