fit for work according to ATOS

[vicandtammy]

In august 2012 i was summond for one of the famouse atos medical examinations to see if i still qualify for the new improved version of incapacity benefit the second in twelve months i might add,

 

I turn up at the atos so called medical centre in portsmouth early and struggling to walk and in i go into the lions den and im interviewed by yet another so called doctor...(doctor of what is my worrying question at which point he got very angry)

 

anyway after an hour and a quater this [edit] tells me thankk you for your time and my so called medical is now finished and i can now leave and he will email his findings that afternoon and ill hear within a few days what is the decision,

 

well on 22nd of september they send me a letter telling me that contrary to some very eminent surgeons that there is nothing wrong with me and that im now in the view of ATOS and the DWPs decision maker im fit and will no longer be entitled to benefits,

 

im now thinking what just happend...did I.Qs just drop 200 points??,

 

i have had a total knee replacement at 49 years old also 12 major operations on my right arm to try to save my joints also and painfull injections into my lower spine to try to limit the amount of pain from the advanced austeo arthritis in it which by the way did not work and so its extreamly painfull to sit,lie down and stand both were shown proof of the surgeries i have had

 

and i informed both the so called ATOS [edit] and DWP that i have an appointment for major surgery on the 30th of october to my right wrist and the procedure is called a drujj wrist replacement due to advanced degenerative austeo arthritis also that i have a heart condition called EHD

 

i also took along the carrier bage of drugs that i take on a daily basis just so that i can funtion albeit slowley

 

the ATOS [edit] paid absolutly no attention to my answers to his questions and if a resting of the hands on my knees is a medical then he must have thought that he was jesus or possibly that at the very least he had THE POWER TO HEAL!!

 

What a [problem] this government and its cronies have created!!!.....

 

It seems that the decision makers having no medical qualifications can decide who is fit for work and a [edit] with some very questionable qualifications can judge a person having ABSOLUTLY NO PRIOR KNOWLAGE OF A PERSON AND THERE MEDICAL CONDITIONS CAN AND WILL DETROY A PERSONS SANITY,

 

my point is this what happens when these [edit] working for a company built on so much corporate greed are supposed to be qualified doctors take the hypocratic oath which opens and says FIRST DO NO HARM!!

 

JUST FOR THE [edit]S WORKING FOR ATOS IVE WRITTEN THIS IN CAPS, and as for the so called decision makers just what parts of the english written language dont they understand??? are words like DEGENERATIVE, TERMINAL, AND NOT LIKLY TO EVER GET BETTER are these very long words too hard for them to understand or do they not understand medications such as oromorph (morphine in a sugar solution) co-codamol 30/500s perscription strength (only available on and by a doctors perscription) and other rather powerfull drugs that are controlled substances,

 

if you dont understand the responsibility placed on you as a medical professional when you take the oath as a doctor and then you work for [edit] lik ATOS and and as a decision maker you have the RESPONSIBILITY to read digest and fully understand a claiments medical condition and the medications that they are on and the EFFECT that medication DOES HAVE ON A person AND THEN ACT RSPONSIBILY....

 

YES RESPONSIBLY because if you dont ultimatly the decision you make has a devistating effect on people and families...ITS TIME TO WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE BEFORE TURNS VERY NASTY you cant continue to crucify the week just because you can!!.

 

this government and there money grabbing corporate friends are all about lining there own pockets and as long as the back pocket gets serviced what do the lower earners and classes matter??

 

and the short and the long of it is WE DONT MATTER as long as the corporate machine is getting its wheels well oiled!!!

Edited October 10, 2012 by honeybee13
Editing in some spacing for ease of reading.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I've put some paragraphs into your post, which I hope will get it more views, and taken out the personal abuse.

 

I'm not sure if you're asking for our help with the decision, or wanting to let off steam about a process I know seems unfair. Normally, you should appeal the decision within a month, with form GL24.

 

My best, HB

[kurvaface]

I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. Perhaps you can make a complaint : Why on earth did you place your hands on your knees if you have had a knee replacement?

 

On the plus side, you can evidently type for extended periods of time so there may be just the job for you somewhere. Good luck.

[count orlok]

I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. Perhaps you can make a complaint : Why on earth did you place your hands on your knees if you have had a knee replacement?

 

On the plus side, you can evidently type for extended periods of time so there may be just the job for you somewhere. Good luck.

 

The "laying on of hands" was done by the examiner, I would imagine that was part of the ATOS miracle cure.

 

In the mind's of ATOS yes, but not in the real world where one would be expected to write at a high rate without taking breaks while remaining seated for many hours.

Edited October 10, 2012 by count orlok

[vicandtammy]

Unfortunatly the so called health care professional did the laying of the hands not me, i cant even hold half a mug of tea with my right hand its that serius!,

as for the current health situation i cant sit for more than ten minutes at most without having to constantly adjust my position to try to ease the massive pain in my lumber and im right handed so im now writing like my 3 year old, considering i used to have very tidy writing im a bit miffed!.

its the manner of the so called medical that gets right up my nose though, the surgeon who replaced my knee has had absolutly no requests from either the DWP or atos even though i supplied these detales nor has the hand or spinal surgeons and my GP had a tick box questionaire that he described as poinless!!, they have seen the medical history including long term prognosises from all of the surgeons and ignored everything even though on 30/10/12 im going into hospital once again to have a DRUJJ wrist replacement and both the atos examiner and the DWP were informed of this with copies of the hospital letters it would seem that the old prase of ignorence is no excuse is not the case, it seems that if you as an examiner do not understand the meanings of advanced, degenerative or know what controlled pain releif drugs such as oromorph and 30/500 co-codamol do to a person besides dull down pain then ignore it and just say FIT FOR WORK!! iTS TRUE IGNORENCE IS TRUELY BLISS !! because like atos NO ONE HAS TO JUSTIFY themselves to anyone as long as they tow the line and get everyone off off the benefits!!.

the other thing that absolutly sticks in the throat is the form that the DWP and atos use now is a tick box questionaire designed to make it virtually impossible to pass the medical by using terms such as can walk 200 meters all be it very slowley and with the aid of a stick/crutches or a wheel chaire?? its actually written in such a way that if you have only one good limb then you are fit for work!!, it does not take into effect that for instance if you are like me on 30/500 co-codamol 2 5 times a day and and oromorph 15ml 5 times a day as well as meds for eschemic heart desease and i fall asleep due to the pain releaf meds so i cant operate machinery and i dont drive unless i absolutly have to and that just to go to the doctors or te weekly shop with my wife and then i stay in the car while she goes into the supermarket, i am convinced that anyone who can see out of at least one eye and use at least one finger then both ATOS in there superior wisdom and the decision maker at the DWP with absolutly No medical qualifications and no understanding of medications and health conditions/illnesses will find absolutly anyone fit for work .

My idea of right and wrong is that if you are going to be judged on your fitness to work then the person(s) who make both the decisions and do the examining MUST HAVE medical knowlage and a full understanding of how and what effect medications have on a person, these MUST BE FUNDIMENTAL REQUIREMENTS!!.

without these qualifications and knowlage none of these people are or can be qualified to weild so much power over peoples lives!!.

this is not a rant or me being abusive but actually trying to work out how to be treatedfairly and on a level playing field?!, and to the person who asked about me actually typing this...yes i have typed it but so far its taken me over 45 minutes and counting, i used to be a CNC 5 axis milling machine setter operator which ment i spent my day on my feet lifting heavy metal billets and i loved my job but not being able to grip or stand for more than 10 minutes anymore excludes me from this anymore thats if the surgeons actually tell me im going to get better but they have actually put in writing degenerative is getting worse for those at atos and the dwp. (just thought i would help them with that explanation of the word degenerative) i was not being abusive, now its up to 1 hour 23 minutes my one fingerd typing speed lol

[dpick]

I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. Perhaps you can make a complaint : Why on earth did you place your hands on your knees if you have had a knee replacement?

 

On the plus side, you can evidently type for extended periods of time so there may be just the job for you somewhere. Good luck.

 

 

Ever heard of speech to text programs. I use them all the time including now.

 

dpick

[vicandtammy]

Ever heard of speech to text programs. I use them all the time including now.

 

yes i ha

ve heard of them but no employer that i have spoken to over the last week and there have been quite a lot is prepared to employ someone who is considerd to be a risk to themselves or other employees or the company, this is the phrase i was told virtually word for word.

they employers have told me that in order for them to be able to employ me i must be firstly declared fit for work due to insurance cover purposes and also i must be able to work at the same speeds as everyone else and do exactly the same jobs as the other employees. if i cant stand or sit at the same stations as the other employees for the same time periods then they cant use me and as for using morphine and co-codamol that alone makes me an accident waiting to happen and as such i could be putting other employees that i would work with at risk just because i drop off to sleep without realising it quit frequently.

[Slatted]

I think the problem is, if you have a chance to look at the other threads on the forum under ESA and the like that there is no longer a "level playing field"....and things are no longer fair where ESA is concerned.

 

it is understandable that you are confused and angry and want things to be "fair" but mostly it seems all we can do is work within the rules that now govern our benefit and welfare system. It is all down to "descriptors" now....the WCA is not a medical and therefore although they "should" know about the medications and conditions but that does not always seem to matter if you can be seen to do what they ask.

 

That does not mean we accept them and many challenge and complain but if you are not fit for work then you need to start the appeal process and gather your evidence or get help from the likes of Welfare Rights or CAB.

 

I am not sure if you have contacted DWP to start appeals process?

 

Have you looked at the Sticky about appeals?

[vicandtammy]

I think the problem is, if you have a chance to look at the other threads on the forum under ESA and the like that there is no longer a "level playing field"....and things are no longer fair where ESA is concerned.

 

it is understandable that you are confused and angry and want things to be "fair" but mostly it seems all we can do is work within the rules that now govern our benefit and welfare system. It is all down to "descriptors" now....the WCA is not a medical and therefore although they "should" know about the medications and conditions but that does not always seem to matter if you can be seen to do what they ask.

 

That does not mean we accept them and many challenge and complain but if you are not fit for work then you need to start the appeal process and gather your evidence or get help from the likes of Welfare Rights or CAB.

 

I am not sure if you have contacted DWP to start appeals process?

 

Have you looked at the Sticky about appeals?

 

Yep i have spoken with my local conservative MPs pa and after having to take the DWP to task in august 2011 after they told me the same thing about DLA and winning and shes had a chat with her boss my local Cons MP and she is going to take it up with the minister concerned, we had a long chat she s now helping me put in for a reconsideration and dependent on the outcome of the reconsideration we may have to go to a full decision appeal but even my GP has had a lot of new sick notes that he has had to issue for patients in the same position.

Im surprised that this has not been taken to the courts as its got to be in breach of human rites of some kind and definatly victimisation of a minority or something along those lines?, i mean a so called ATOS humiliation every 12 months when you have a degenerative desease that there are no known cures for is just absolutly mental and im talking about some of the nastier deseases that are terminal as well as the crippling one i and many others suffer from.

its alright for these rich people who think they no how were suffering financially when they dont have a clue!!.

still ill just have to see what the decision is after its looked at.

his country is in a real mess i accept that but it seems that this government are attacking the most vulnerable of society who also are the least able to afford being hit financially and this in all honesty is causing so much poverty and missery its going to cost this country a lot more than it saves in the end but the irreparable damage its doing is going to create a very very huge social problem that there will be no return from!!.

Im not a pessinist but a realist you only have to look at spain, portugal, and greece shortly to be followed by cyprus and more than likly the good old u.k and others and if this government dont get there heads sorted very soon then were going to become a society like the yanks and if thats so called progress then im at a loss to see where were going as a so called caring modern society?!.

[spots1]

I know the pain you going through...I too take controllled drugs to give pain relief ...oral morphine and other drugs and also have epilepsy the whole concoction of drugs makes me tierd ...my first atos assesment was taken to recon ...having said that have had another form less than a year to fill in ...and had a letter to say that my monet will no longer be from Jan 2013...regardless of the same degeneration and othe rissues not to mention the mental health issues ...good luck with what you decide to do ...I will not let them get away with treating me as a nobody without a fight ...alas I have to get the energy ffrom somwhere to do this

[Lillibelle]

Ummm,,,,you should only be taking cocodomal 4 times in 24 hours and same for Oramorph,,that may be why you are getting breakthrough pain?

[vicandtammy]

Ummm,,,,you should only be taking cocodomal 4 times in 24 hours and same for Oramorph,,that may be why you are getting breakthrough pain?

 

I know that and my GP has also told me that the co-codamol should only be taken 4 times daily, but the pain in my lower spine, writst and joints is much worse than its ever been at any time and the doc told me any stronger meds would completely knock me out and so i do what i have to do to stay as active as is physically possible and trust me its not as active as i used to be or was even a couple of years ago would like to be or should be for a man of 51 with a 3 year old!!.

 

The real issue is that when you have some of the most respected surgeons in the country and your GP putting in writing to a so called decision maker what is wrong with a person and giving a professional opinion regarding the short to medium and long term diagnoses/prognoses about a persons medical state and then the so called health care professional at ATOS tells you he is not interested in that and also the decision maker at the DWP has this information along with the long lists of meds that need to be taken and then the so called decision maker totaly disregards the professional opinions and obviously fails to understand what information he/she has in front of him or her and bases an opinion on his/her lack of understanding and then cuts you off from the benefits you are entitled to and then you have to fight like an animal to try to get it back i do feel that ATOS are getting paid extreamly well for providing a service to the DWP without any comeback for extreamly poor service to both the tax payer and the victim also the so called decision maker whom one would suppose understood the facts put before him/her regarding a persons state of health both short and long term based upon professional opinions of extreamly well educated medical professionals how is it that thses decision makers can make such barbaric decisions and cause so much hurt in peoples lives!?? and still they dont seem to have to answer for the massive errors in decision makeing on there part!?, its such a costly system to the tax payer financially and emotionally to the applicant whome then becomes a victim with very few options.

I have to be honest and say that the civil servent who introduced this system to weed out the fakers from the genuine did not apply any thought to how this very flawed system would be implimented and how he sleeps at night i will never fathom because he must be truely loathed amongst the genuine claiments because they are being treated as leaches on society and they are not, i spent 8 years in the paras and ive been employed since i was 15 and a half and its only the last five years that i have been in and out of hospital under going surgery to try to keep me going and unfortunatly surgery cannot guarantee sucess for some issues.

[Fairywings54]

I am in the same position as you and can only sympathise. I too had a medical recently and was deemed fit for work. I too am on Morphine and have various problems etc etc but I am appealing on a GL24 Form and I suggest you do the same too. As long as I have a breath in my body I will do so as I was treated like a robot and nothing else.

 

You are not alone but you are just a number and this government wants to take you off this benefit to make it look good for them. They are nothing but rob dogs.

[vicandtammy]

I am in the same position as you and can only sympathise. I too had a medical recently and was deemed fit for work. I too am on Morphine and have various problems etc etc but I am appealing on a GL24 Form and I suggest you do the same too. As long as I have a breath in my body I will do so as I was treated like a robot and nothing else.

 

You are not alone but you are just a number and this government wants to take you off this benefit to make it look good for them. They are nothing but rob dogs.

 

I know who and what they are and if my twisting of the facts had got me into power i would be ashamed of myself for doing what im doing to the poorest and weekest in society!!, i do know that they are finished, when the next local elections cpme round as well as the nationals i shall be putting my X whith someone new!!, not this shower or the preveous ones!!.

governments come and governments go and the people have very long memories, our armed forces have been absolutly devistated and our defence industry is now totally on its knees and people are losing there jobs left right and centre but the banks keep screwing everyone and the bankers are still allowed to commit acts of what would normally be called fraud but because its rich people they get away with it but if it were you or me or our next door neighbour we would end up in court and most definatly prison!!, it is nowa days more so a state of them and us and the thems are virtually untouchable.

its a very sad day when the good old united kingdom is no longer the very place in a crazy world where fair play and an even hand once ruled and until a person with real morals and an ounce or two of an inclination of whats right and fre can actually take controle of our very disturbed way of running a country then im afraide were all in a very real world of hurt with very little chance of being able to see the right thing ever being done, i served my country with distinction for 8 years and if you include the very first day i started work at fifteen and a half in 1977 i have worked and paid into a system constantly up until 2008 when i became to sick to work and then some very misguided person puts into place the system we have in place now you have to ask the question as to there motives and does this/these persons have ulterior interests in ATOS or just a very misguided idea of trying to improve a system that admittedly does get abused but you cannot just round up everyone and sheepdip them all together in the same bath and assumn that its all going to be ok in the morning!!, the system is now completely broken..you have everyone being declared fit for work according to the ATOS tickbox questionaire and decision makers working inside the DWP who seem to have absolutly no idea of what medical terminology means nor do they understand what medications are used for and the effect they have on people and the most shocking thing is that ATOS just take the money and dont have to justify or answer for flawed medical examinations carried out by health care professionals usually from outside the u.k with no consideration for the patient or the hypocratic oath, if they did they would be honest in there evaluations or the patients.

I must be honest and say that if i was ever lucky enough to win several millions on the lottery i would gladly spend a couple of million dragging certain entities through the high court and the europeean courts to see just how fair and honest this system actually is in the eyes of human rites and laws

[Nystagmite]

I was once told that these so called decision makers aren't medically trained. Which makes no sense - I was born with a rare eye condition, which normally causes colour blindness and causes another eye condition. Not has my assessment for ESA yet; but when I applied for DLA, I was told I have no such issues! Funny how people who know me who aren't medically trained say I have these issues!