Tribunal

Hi Frazzledbutcalm,
Sorry to hear of the poor experience you had at the Tribunal.
To answer your question very simply you are correct!
Regulation 4(2A) PIP Regs.2013 stipulates that 4 criteria have to be fulfilled (all 4)- if not then this will indicate points should be awarded at a level appropriate to disability.
•safety
•Reasonable time
•repeatedly
•Acceptable standard.
The latter one means to an acceptable norm, would an onlooker think it was ok. Moreover you are right - if you get pain, breathlessness and possibly also fatigue this does NOT comprise an acceptable standard. Any walking done with significant pain MUST be discounted. Thus you can have a scenario where you can physically walk 500m or more by grinding through the pain , but because you start out with high levels if pain, your walking distance for PIP could be zero!
The 4 criteria apply to all descriptors.
Reg 7 provides that you only have to satisfy the descriptors for the majority of days.
Have a look at the decision notice - if this wasn't given to you at the hearing, you'll get it in a couple of days via the post. Does the notice say whether or not the panel you had at the start if the hearing are excluded. If so then not one if then can sit at the new hearing. It will start again with totally different and hopefully more pleasant panel members next time.
Let us know. In the meantime I'll see if I can list some helpful cases...watch this space.
I hope this helps.
LL26

Hi frazzledbutcalm

I'm so sorry this has happened to you. 50+ is not old, but I agree with you - describing you as a young woman is strange.

I hope that they have not already contacted your doctor. When you go and see your GP, take a list of bullet points with you to discuss with the GP so that if they haven't already spoken to you, you may be able to influence what they say. Remember that pain is a very personal thing, and even your GP may be unaware of how debilitating your pain is.

BIS

Hi Frazzledbutcalm,
The case about pain is here
CPIP 0665 2016
(PS v SSWP 2016)
If you copy the CPIP number and di a goivke search you can download the case. It's not too long and worth a read.

As fir the doctor at tribunal. It is open to you to make an official complaint if you wish. But definitely check the decision/adjournment notice because if the previous panel are excluded you have no worries at all.
Given that the case was adjourned after the doctor's comnents, I'm thinking whether the Judge realised what was happening and intervened to cause an adjournment to facilitate another hearing as things were getting 'tense'?
Just a thought...it has happened to me in more than one occasion!
Since you have a pending appointment with your GP, why not phone the surgery and say to expect contact from the tribunal but to hold off until after the appointment. It rather depends but it is likely that all the GP will send is a copy of medical records, rather than a report as such.
In the meantime you can do some research-
What medicines do you take? Check the dosage levels compared with the max dises as per eg BNF website (this is the site for info about British medicines doses and usage.)
If you are not on max- could you upgrade, or maybe you've tried or there are too many unwarranted side effects or contraindications?
If you're not on medicines - maybe ask GP if something could help. Or as per above you can't take anything for whatever reason.
Info about medicines is helpful for the (new) tribunal. You can write and explain about dosage and send this in as extra info before the next hearing. Explain also about the pain levels, cite the case above. (Use the full PS v SSWP full date/numbers etc as reference.)
If your pain levels are similar to when the claim or renewal (whichever is appropriate) was made then maybe a pain/disability diary might help.
Basically write about your day, when you get up, why you didn't get up earlier, what you do, how it makes you feel. Time taken, pain levels, needing to sit down and rest etc
You can just do this for walking.
Do the diary for a few days. It can help you identify patterns, eg when/why pain occurs or increases you can also monitor pain levels etc. This might be helpful for your GP too.
If you are unsure of how far you can walk without the pain becoming too bad get a friend to come with you to somewhere you try and go eg post box. Or just walk down a pavement and see how fatmr you get. Do you need to stop rest or sit down. Aside from pain do you get eg breathless, legs give way, fall or stumble. Note all of these and when/where it occurs. Time the sits and rests if you can. (Hence the need for a friend.) Do it more than once if possible.
By doing this you will have some very good evidence to present to the tribunal next time. But crucially any walking or diary evidence will only help if your condition is largely the same now as before. (Unless eg you can quantify that previously you could walk to the post box which is eg 40m before pain is too bad even though now walking ability is less far.)
And finally...
Remember walking has to be done outside and the tribunal have to consider the majority of days, so a once a week, once a fortnight, quick visit to a supermarket won't preclude points irrespective of your pain!!
I hope this helps.
I hope the visit to the doctor is also helpful.
LL26