Concerned about recent ATOS medical?

[Zarbafi]

I recently had my atos medical and to be honest the medical itself was finein no way the ordeal I was expecting, The ATOS HCP was very nice, they satbehind a desk the whole time and asked me questions relevent to my condition. Ifelt that they seemed to understand my health issues and they even offered meadvice on how to access additional medical support.

I am perhaps different from many people seeking ESA in that I am a newclaiment and I am hoping to only make a short term claim and go into WRAG.However since leaving the assesment centre I feel very worried about theoutcome of my medical.

I was asked to discribe a good day which I did but I also make sure to saythat my bad days were far more frequent than my good days but I have no controlwhat the ATOS HCP puts down in the report. I have heard of other people sayinghow nice and supportive the ATOS HCP was and then being horrified when they getzero points on their medical and when they do see the report it is highlyselective about what you can do and omits anything the claiment has told theHCP about the negative impact of the illness or disablity i.e. if on a raregood day you can get up, wash, dress, make toast, use a pc short time, or havea friend round for tea then you are fit to work even if that is one good dayout of a week or a month. I am also concerned that I did talk freely aboutthink I did in the past I can no longer do now but am worried if they willappear on the report as current things I do. Also so many things I failed tomention. It seems very strange to me that they are able to fill in the reportand not let you see it as this means they can pretty much put anything theywant, twist what you say and omit anything which would be in your favour. MyHCP did seem to be typing a lot though.

In the initial moments after the assesment I really did feel confident thatI would be given a favorable report from the ATOS HCP but now on reflection Iknow that is not likely. I should prepare myself for failure and the appealprocess. it just seems unfair that at a time when I should be focusing ongetting better I have the stress of all this hanging over me and stress is abig factor in my condition as I am sure it is for many others.

Would love some advice, feed back or encouragement even just other peoplesexperiances of the medical when you had yours was the HCP nice and was thereflected in the report or was it just to lull you into a false sense ofsecurity?

[Life-Goes-On]

No one can say if you will "pass" or not, but he expectation is most people will "fail".

 

Try not to worry, you will get plenty of advice on appealing if you fail.

[rainbo]

My ex husband's HCP was a lovely woman, came across very caring and sympathetic, and we left the centre feeling optomistic.

 

HOWEVER. He failed, and when we requested a copy of the decision etc, the ONLY thing she had actually got correct was that my ex husband had anxiety in social situations. She hadn't even noted the letters from the psychiatrist, AND said that he had "no outward signs of anxiety, apart from being a little tearful at the beginning" (he was crying heavily for about 5 minutes) and "wasn't rocking in his chair" !!!!!

 

So, he got 6 points, from a HCP trained in PHYSIOTHERAPY. He did win his appeal a year later though, thanks to this forum

[Zarbafi]

My ex husband's HCP was a lovely woman, came across very caring and sympathetic, and we left the centre feeling optomistic.

 

HOWEVER. He failed, and when we requested a copy of the decision etc, the ONLY thing she had actually got correct was that my ex husband had anxiety in social situations. She hadn't even noted the letters from the psychiatrist, AND said that he had "no outward signs of anxiety, apart from being a little tearful at the beginning" (he was crying heavily for about 5 minutes) and "wasn't rocking in his chair" !!!!!

 

So, he got 6 points, from a HCP trained in PHYSIOTHERAPY. He did win his appeal a year later though, thanks to this forum

 

Thanks for your reply. I think I do have to start preparing myself for a letter saying I have failed and been refused ESA. I really do think that if they are going to continue with these medicals given by a private company who obviously are pressurising staff into finding people fit for work when their own GP's and consultants think otherwise then they need to let us see what they write in the medical report at the end of out assesment and approve it as fact and give us a copy so that they cannot add or remove from it. As it is they can pick and choose what to put in their report, omit what they wish and twist what is said. For example they may ask you to describe a good and bad day but then only put down details of your good days when perhaps your good days may only be a quarter or a 5th of the time if that?

 

I am glad you won your appeal, I think I will have to appeal if I don't get the ESA but I just feel so worn out by the process already. My condition is variable and I have good and bad days and now I feel that even on good days I shouldn't go out to the shops try to get some exercise in the fresh air because if I do it's like I'm I fraud. All I wanted was a little time to get better.

[RaeUK]

ATOSH > WCA > Fail > Appeal > Remain on assessment rate. This is the usual course of events I'm afraid. But at least you still get benefits ...

[eddiebhoy]

hey zarbafi i have just successfully won my appeal after i failed the medical i got 0 points on the original assesment and from what i gather so is everybody else that has either been on esa/income support etc and went for a medical..I wasnt even going to bother with an appeal because by the looks of it their trying to get as many as possible off their benefits even if their genuine..All i can say is whatever happens go for the appeal because its an independent panel that looks at your claim and will make an honest decision and will listen to what you have to say and look at the evidence without being biased towards the goverments kick everybody off policy..hope this helps and all the best with your appeal.

[Zarbafi]

ATOSH > WCA > Fail > Appeal > Remain on assessment rate. This is the usual course of events I'm afraid. But at least you still get benefits ...

 

hey zarbafi i have just successfully won my appeal after i failed the medical i got 0 points on the original assesment and from what i gather so is everybody else that has either been on esa/income support etc and went for a medical..I wasnt even going to bother with an appeal because by the looks of it their trying to get as many as possible off their benefits even if their genuine..All i can say is whatever happens go for the appeal because its an independent panel that looks at your claim and will make an honest decision and will listen to what you have to say and look at the evidence without being biased towards the goverments kick everybody off policy..hope this helps and all the best with your appeal.

 

Thanks for the advice and support, as before just feeling sick with nerves about the whole process.

 

I am a little confused about what the whole appeal process is, how long it will last for and so on. I actually looked at some on a government website where you could see the notes from the tribunals and from that it didn't seem to me that many passed, and if they did it was all down to "points of law" but maybe that was a different thing, is a tribunal different from an appeal?

 

Any advice on what to do when they call me back if they say I have failed and they are stopping my ESA do I say I want an appeal over the phone or just say ok and then send the form in? Also as I said in another post my condition varies and while I am not out very often I am sometimes well enough to go out and I have things like job centre appointments and doctors appointments. What happens if they call and I am out, will that be a black mark against me?

[honeybee13]

I am a little confused about what the whole appeal process is, how long it will last for and so on. I actually looked at some on a government website where you could see the notes from the tribunals and from that it didn't seem to me that many passed, and if they did it was all down to "points of law" but maybe that was a different thing, is a tribunal different from an appeal?

 

Hello again. This is my understanding of the appeals process.

 

There are 2 stages: first your case is looked at again - reconsideration - by a DWP decision maker [DM]. Sometimes they reverse the decision, but I would say in the majority of cases they uphold it.

 

The next stage is a tribunal with an independent panel and organised by the Tribunals Service. In terms of timings, the DM decision might take a few weeks, but a tribunal can be months and months, depending on what sort of backlog of cases your area of the country has.

 

I think the reason that the decisions you've read are based on points of law is because you were looking at the Employment Appeals tribunal [EAT], which only considers points of law. AFAIK, normal tribunal results aren't published.

 

I hope that helps, HB

[osdset]

Thanks for the advice and support, as before just feeling sick with nerves about the whole process.

 

I am a little confused about what the whole appeal process is, how long it will last for and so on. I actually looked at some on a government website where you could see the notes from the tribunals and from that it didn't seem to me that many passed, and if they did it was all down to "points of law" but maybe that was a different thing, is a tribunal different from an appeal?

 

Any advice on what to do when they call me back if they say I have failed and they are stopping my ESA do I say I want an appeal over the phone or just say ok and then send the form in? Also as I said in another post my condition varies and while I am not out very often I am sometimes well enough to go out and I have things like job centre appointments and doctors appointments. What happens if they call and I am out, will that be a black mark against me?

There is no guarantee that the DWP will phone you with a pass or fail, my zero point notification came in the post, if they do phone state that you wish to appeal, under no circumstance ask for or be persuaded to go for a review, your payments will stop during the review, however they are obliged to reinstate your payments if you appeal, they will send out form GL24 with a return envelope, it will be sent 2nd class and will probably take a week to get to you, get around this by going yourself, or getting someone else to go to your nearest Job Centre and ask for a GL24 with the pre paid envelope, fill it out straight away, and make a point of asking that your payments continue at the assessment rate, the envelope they provide will probably be franked 2nd class, upgrade this in the post office to 1st class signed for, you then can check online that it has been delivered.

This is what I wrote on my appeal form to give you an idea of how to phrase it.

 

 

Since my medical assessment, you have decided that I am well enough to return to work, and that my Employment and Support Allowance should be stopped.

I disagree with this, and I wish to appeal against this decision.

I believe I should be in receipt of the Work Related Activity Group component of ESA, as I believe I have complied with the descriptors of

SCHEDULE 2 ASSESSMENT OF WHETHER A CLAIMANT HAS LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK

Part 1 Physical disabilities (1) activity, mobilising unaided 1 a)(ii)

Part 1 physical disabilities (1) consciousness during waking moments 10 (a)

I disagree that the summary of the assessment was a true reflection of what occurred during the assessment.

Please continue to pay my benefit at the assessment level.

Obviously you would put in what descriptors you feel you met.

I hope this helps.