PIP & Diabetes

Extremely bad luck. Currently waiting for my second tribunal. Amongst other things, the DWP don't accept an insulin pump as a necessary device for managing medicine, according to my assessor it's a choice not a necessity.

 

AFAIK, having diabetes does not qualify you for PIP on its own.

Now if you have diabetes complications that result in you needing help that may qualify you, but certainly not diabetes on its own.

Well many T1's don't have access to a pump and have to manage with injections - and some do in fact choose injections over a pump, not sure what an insulin pump has to do with the DWP mind

 

With approaching 5 million diabetics in the uk, I guess we would be bankrupt if we all got pip .....

 

No, it's meant to be how you are affected, not what conditions have you got.

One of the questions you score points on in the PIP questionnaire is needing aids or devices to manage medication. I'm allergic to all basal insulins I have tried, so can only receive basal insulin through a pump. The decision maker decided it was a choice, not a necessity, to have a basal insulin dose.

 

Fwiw the number of points you score for 3a(I) (“needing an aid or device to manage medication) is only 1. It’s basically irrelevant in the scheme of things as you need 8 points for an award of standard daily living, and most of the points come in two’s. So unless you score one of the rare threes (4 e - needing assistance to get in and out of a bath) then whether you achieve a 1 for 3a(I) is neither here nor there.

 

It's the principle though. My diabetes consultant has decided a pump is medically necessary to treat my diabetes, but the assessor decided it was an optional choice I made for convenience. The assessor was a mental health nurse, and her opinion was taken over that of a specialist consultant. WRONG

 

Then go for mandatory consideration and appeal if they come back with the same decision.

 

Do you have a letter from your Consultant saying a pump is medically necessary to treat your diabetes?

 

Done and done. Tribunal is week on Friday. The letter from my consultant gave other possibilities, including injecting every two hours, day and night, and trying anti allergy treatment for insulin. So my choice was being permanently awake or being under watch in hospital for a month or using a pump. But still a choice, so pump obviously for convenience.

Just in case... Diabetes is not my only problem, nor does it largely feature in my application, except perhaps for safety while out and about (No hypo awareness + No sensor = repeated hospital trips). It just complicates other co-morbidities.

 

Good luck with your tribunal! Push heavily on the No hypo awareness with repeated hypos - that has very good scope for points, particularly for mobility (potentially 11f, enhanced rate mobility), but also even supervision for cooking and for bathing.

 

Hope you get a good result at the tribunal. Would the consultant who wrote your letter want to inject every 2 hours - I don't think so!!