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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Disability benefits  →  Thread

PIP managing toilet needs. 

PippaD
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Benefits advisor - Maggie's South West Wales, Swansea

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Total Posts: 54

Joined: 20 June 2013

I just wondered whether any of you have tried to convince PIP that use of imodium is an aid for managing toilet needs?

I have a client who has had major surgery for pancreatic cancer and she takes a large dose of imodium daily and without this she would have persistent and disabling diahorrea. With the use of imodium she still has diahorrea but it controls it, to a certain extent. She doesn’t use incontinence pads as an aid.

Thanks
Pippa

John Birks
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Welfare Rights and Debt Advice - Stockport Council

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Total Posts: 1064

Joined: 16 June 2010

I doubt that would work.

Regulation 2 of the main PIP regulations provides -

“aid or appliance”- (a) means any device which improves, provides or replaces [the claimant’s] impaired physical or mental function; and (b) includes a prosthesis;


“In my judgment an asthma inhaler does not constitute an ‘aid’ for the purposes of the moving around descriptor.  It has long been accepted in other areas of disability benefits that a claimant’s ability should be assessed taking into account the beneficial effects of medication which it would be reasonable to expect the claimant to take (see, for example, R(IB) 1/08).  I can so no reason why this should not also apply to PIP.  It is, in my view, the medication which improves the claimant’s physical function of breathing.  The fact that that medication is administered using a device is irrelevant.’ (paragraph 22)”

https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/caselaw/item/asthma-inhaler-is-not-an-aid-for-the-purposes-of-mobility-activity-2

 

Brian JB
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Advisor - Wirral Welfare Rights Unit, Birkenhead

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Joined: 18 June 2010

I agree with John it is a medication not an aid - but you mention that the medication “controls it, to a certain extent”, which suggests there may be occasions where there is incontinence. If so, could you argue she reasonably needs aids (as in pads) to manage her incontinence? See [2017] UKUT 258 (AAC)  in the PIPinfo section where use of pads on a precautionary basis is accepted as meeting the requirements if needed on more than 50% of days, even if actual incontinence occurs on less than 50% of days