Hi All, Here’s another tactic that may help weed out ATOS unprofessionalconduct. My wife is the patient notmyself but we have had dealings with ATOS before, when they gottheir notes completely wrong. This morning (yep today) I turned up with my wife toher interview interviewarmed with two things. A recordingdevice and my wife’s formal written confirmation that I should be her nominatedrepresentative. The DWP don’t seem to advertise the fact that if one person feelsincapable of answering questions they can nominate a person to do it for them,but you have to write to the DWP up front stating that the patient does notfeel able to answer questions and nominating a person to answer for them. The second thing that neither ATOS nor the DWP advertise is that youare entitles to record the assessment as long as you do it openly and tell allpersons present that you are doing it. I advised the nurse who was going to conduct the interview up frontthat I was recording it and she stopped the assessment immediately andsaid that the ATOS did not allow recordings. When I pressed her if this was a DWP requirement or to see the ATOSformal paperwork to confirm this (its not in their handbook), she went away andcame back with her supervisor who stated that I was not entitled to be in theinterview with my wife (yorn - expecting that tactic !). They were then alittle confused when I produced a signed letter from my wife stating that shewanted the interview taped and that I was her nominated representative under the DWP rules. At this stage ATOS stated that if I was recoding the session then they wouldalso have to under DWP rules and that the assessment was cancelled until theycould arrange for this !. Whilst I’m, sure this wont change the outcome of the assessment, arecoding of the session can be used as the basis of an appeal and as the basisof a complaint to the GMC about the doctor or nurse conducting the interview. My stance is that although they do not make the decision, they areaware that their information is being used by a non medical person to make amedical decision, and therefore if anyof this information contained in their report is inaccurate or potentiallymisleading then they have breached their duty of care to the patient. Try this tactic – Im not against assessment where it is fair and openbut I get vary angry when im railroaded and i intend to get a copy of the assesement and comare it against the recording very very carfully !