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Support group and epilepsy
Client has been migrated from IB to ESA in WRAG. She wants help to appeal as she thinks she should be in the Support Group, but there is no obvious descriptor to hang a case on. She has grand mal fits 5 or 6 times a month. There is no descriptor that specifically relates to loss of consciousness, she has urinary incontinence while fitting but descriptor 8 relates to incontinence whilst conscious. Her social engagement is impaired due to self consciousness and fear of fitting in company, but descriptor 13 says “due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder”, which hardly seems appropriate. The only route to SG I can see is special circs if there is a substantial risk to her health if she were found not to have limited capability for work related activity, but hard to prove. Any suggestions guys?
Funnily enough I picked up an almost identical case this morning.
I really don’t get why there is no consciousness descriptor in schedule 3 but I agree- the only obvious route is exceptional circs (which is what I have argued re my client).
If her problems with dealing with social contact are so severe that she might satisfy the support group descriptor (engagement with social contact always being precluded) then I’d suggest she go back to her GP and see if there is a mental health condition that is being missed (e.g. some form of Social Anxiety), and in the meantime pursue the appeal on the basis that she has an undiagnosed mental health condition.
Otherwise I’d be looking at Reg 35. In particular I’d be asking what happens at the moment when she fits (who looks after her, are they somebody with particular experience of dealing with the fits, would it be something that somebody with no experience would be able to deal with, has she ever had hospital treatment because she has had a fit on her own or in an environment where nobody has intervened, look at getting a letter from GP regarding the risks she faces whilst fitting). The obvious other questions to ask are whether she would attend an appointment if given a date and if she did attend what would happen. If she has a history of missing other appointments (e.g. hospital/GP appointments) at short notice that may be useful.
This article on CPAG has some useful advice : http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/making-exception
I’ve had a couple of similar appeals recently
Got them into support group using reg 29/35
A diary of recent attacks, including hospital visits helps.
I was involved in a meeting with Jobcentre Plus Decision makers a few months back, and we were verbally told that any descriptor that scores 15 points on its own will automatically qualify for support group. I only noticed later that the consciousness descriptor isnt in sch3. Bit contradictory.
[ Edited: 7 Aug 2013 at 12:25 pm by Ros ]I was involved in a meeting with Jobcentre Plus Decision makers a few months back, and we were verbally told that any descriptor that scores 15 points on its own will automatically qualify for support group. I only noticed later that the consciousness descriptor isnt in sch3. Bit contradictory.
Good to know they have a comprehensive understanding of the regs then…
There is no descriptor that specifically relates to loss of consciousness, she has urinary incontinence while fitting but descriptor 8 relates to incontinence whilst conscious.
I don’t know if this is of any help: http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/seizures/generalised
I don’t know a lot about epilepsy, but it seems to suggest that incontinence likely occurs during the clonic phase, when some consciousness is already returning.