My ATOS Medical - 11/02/15 - My Experience - ** PUT IN SUPPORT GROUP **

[AdamManc88]

Hi CAG,

 

Not posted for a while but decided I would share my experience of the ATOS Medical I had this morning.

 

Like I'm sure most of you have/will, I did a fair bit of research on what to expect and prepared myself mentally. I got very little sleep last night and was a nervous wreck on the way there as I suffer from severe anxiety in high pressure situations as well as the main issue I was there for which I won't discuss. I can full on understand people who don't normally have anxiety to be anxious as the day of the ATOS medical is one im sure we have all come to dread in the build up. Anyhow,

 

Location: Manchester, Albert Bridge House

Appointment Time: 10.00am 11/02/2015 (I went on to ESA in March of 2014)

Arrived : 9.45am -

Name Called: 9:55am - Was expected to be kept waiting but I wasn't...... Initially.

 

My first note is that the bloke on the reception desk seemed pretty rude. Didn't seem to care, very to the point, slid a clipboard under my nose to do with ID, i had to sign it and then show my ID's. He then disappeared in to the back room for a minute and I had read that they sometimes keep you waiting purposely to see if you can. As I was just about to go and sit down because I was sick of waiting he returned and told me to take a seat. Maybe he was just a bit of a rude person, maybe it was part of the game, or maybe it was a combination of both.

 

Now what my just be paranoia to me, but at an ATOS medical, I know you are pretty much judged from the minute you step foot inside, cameras everywhere, lots of staff wondering around pointlessly, but this is where I may have been being paranoid or misinterpreting something to be to do with me....

 

A few minutes after sitting down, the same bloke who dealt with me on reception popped out the back, looked me up and down breifly and then returned to the bit behind the reception. A few seconds later a female voice, said rather loudly "WHAT? HE'S FAILED THEN HAS HE? HAHAHA" Bare in mind I am the only person in the waiting room at this point, coupled with the fact the bloke had just come out and give me the once over and seconds after returning to the back office that was said, maybe it is paranoia but it just seemed an odd thing to hear when the day is simply about passing or failing.

 

 

I was called through to a room just around the corner, maybe 20m away. I was for some reason expecting a room with about 3 people in it but it was just me and her.. She made a swoop behind me as we got to the door, so i would have to open it. It wasn't overly heavy so I pushed it slowly open. (I had read that they walk behind you on purpose so you have to open doors). There was barley any time for small talk on the way to the room. I was told that seemingly innocent questions are all part of the medical, so I was expecting some seemingly normal questions to be part of the medical. There we're none. As I entered the room she asked "Have you been waiting long?" to which i replied "about 11 months). That's me not being a smart arse and trying to be funny, but my little way of confirming what we and they already know, that ATOS is a shambles. She watched me sit down and asked me 4 questions before telling me she wasn't qualified to deal with my condition and so she would get somebody else, who was, to do it. She sent me back to the waiting room, I asked how long i could expect to be waiting and she said somebody would be with me very soon.

 

To me this was all part of the game they play. From the most mundane waiting room I've ever sat it.. I've seen more atmosphere at the Etihad and that's saying something.

 

10-15 Minutes later I was called by another lady who took me to the room at the very far end of the corridor) most ofthe rooms on the way we're empty but I was taken maybe 50m to the far end, again, all part of the game i'm sure. This lady asked me the exact same initial questions as the first lady had and I immediately knew this was to catch me out or see if my story differed. I have seen enough detective shows to know this is how interrogations are often done. Thew first lady I saw was never going to do the medical, she was simply weighing me up.

 

I was in for around 30-40 minutes for my medical with the second lady during which she asked about my condition, my medications/treatments, how it affects day to day living and because my condition is much worse on some days than others i mentally put myself in the mind frame of my worst day. I was thinking back to a day last week where i was bed bound because of the pain. With every answer I used the words Reliably Repeatedly and Safely, which I had seen on this forum as well as various other guides to the medical.

 

Now the lady was very nice. She seemed understanding, she seemed to listen to my answer as she typed away. This could have been genuine but everything was telling me, it is this persons job to find me fit for work and I felt i was being lulled in to a false sense of security so she could try and trip me up, so after every question she asked, I paused, re-asked the question in my own head rather than just blurting something out which could and almost certainly would he used against me.

 

She then told me we would do a physical test now. She asked me how far we had parked (my dad drove me) from the venue, which i told her about 100m and although I had walked it, I was already feeling the tension build in my lower back and was in discomfort. She told me I didn't have to do any of the things she asked me if I did not want to. The upper body stuff i was ok with because even on my worst day i can move my arms/hands. When it came to the lower half, bending over and anything involving using my back or legs i refused. She asked me to get on the bed, and again I refused as it was fairly high. Now there and then i could have, no questions i could have got on to that bed, but on my worst day there was not a chance i was getting on to it without screaming when i catch my back in an awkward position and feel the shooting pains up my back. My bed at home is at a height where it is fairly simple to just lower myself on to it when my backs in a not so bad way. The bed in the room she asked me to get on was certainly around 2ft higher and it was more of a climb on than a get in if you follow me.

 

As with all my questions on the spoken part of the medical I kept saying, most of the time I can do this but if you ask me to do it x amount of times there will be a point where the tension in my back and the spasms get so severe I just can not do it Reliably, Repeatedly and Safely.

 

She concluded by asking if there was anything i would like her to see. I gave her a letter from my GP stating all my dates, medications, treatments and referrals to specialists. I also gave her a copy of my MRI scan (dated 2012) and told her my condition is significantly worse now than when that MRI was done, and to include a note stating this when sending it to a decision maker. All of the GP's and Specialists I have seen since 2012 keep referring to the 2012 MRI scan results and it annoys me no end, that somehow now I'm assumed to be in that exact same physical state.

 

 

She told me that was the end of the medical. That it would take 2-6 weeks to hear from the DWP with the decision and it is not her that makes the decision, it will be passed to a decision maker. She told me to go and wait in the waiting room while she took copies of the GP letter and MRI scan.

 

Now on the way back up to reception (50m away), I noticed her walking much faster and I immediately knew that this was to see if i would try and keep up with here. She had told me that the medical was completed down in the room, but at all costs remember this. The medical is underway from the second you step in (reception staff are often, and i think in my case, all part of the game, and the medical will end when you leave the area, I still felt like i was being watched as I made my way out of the building and around the corner.

 

 

Now this little story of how my medical went is in no way to scare or unnerve you when it comes to your ATOS Medical. It is simply an idea of what to expect. I'm sure some medicals will be similar, and i'm sure some will be almost identical. There's no changing the fact that the ATOS Medical is a huge thing for us all, and we have all done some research. The key is to remember this research come the medical day. As i said earlier I felt like I was being set up to stumble but I just stayed focused, re-asked the question in my own head and stuck to the words of Reliably Repeatedly and Safely. with every answer.

 

To summarize:

 

1.) Reliably, Repeatedly and Safely.

2.) You are being assessed from the second you walk in.

3.) You are being assessed until the second you walk out.

4.) However nice they seem, be clear they are there to find you fir for work

5.) If you don't understand a question - ask them to repeat it.

6.) Re-ask yourself the questions in your head before answering

7.) If they keep you waiting at the reception upon entering, take a seat - they are testing you

8.) If you cannot open a door, do not try and open a door, make the assessor do it.

9.) Get the names and professions of all the people involved in your Medical - Use a voice recorder if necessary

10.) If you do not feel comfortable doing something, do not do it.

11.) Reliably, Repeatedly and Safely. (This isn't a dupe, drill this in to every answer you give if your condition fluctuates.

 

 

I am fully expecting to get 0 points for simply turning up. Yet if I hadn't turned up my ESA would have been stopped. It's a catch 22.

 

I hope in anyway this story can somehow prepare you and your answers and your general understanding of the medical.

 

I was a bag of nerves last night, felt sick through anxiety and got very little sleep, but if there was one positive to take from today, I felt amazing once i'd got out of there. Not physically, my back had already locked up on me from the walking, sitting standing, and I am in a fair bit of discomfort as I type this, I am pretty much written off for the day.. After the day loomed closer for the last 6 weeks (when i got my date for the medical) and the nerves and anxiety grew stronger I felt amazing that it was over and done with.

 

 

Adam

[obiter dictum]

Many thanks, I have mine at 9 am tomorrow morning, and I am on crutches

[Lapsed Workaholic]

You obviously did your homework and went to your appointment well prepared.

I would agree with you that the way you were treated throughout was part of a 'game' that they play or a test In itself. It is to you credit that you had mentally prepared for all that and you did not let it phase you or divert you from the primary reason for being there.

 

You are to be congratulated on the comprehensive presentation of your experience here. Anyone awaiting such an appointment would do well to read it.

 

It is invariably the waiting and the not knowing what to expect that raises the anxiety of claimants as the appointed day approaches. What you have done here will, I feel sure, be of immense value to those facing similar anxieties.

 

I expect the next hurdle is awaiting the result. Good luck and I hope it goes your way.

 

 

[Sparks_]

I kept a diary for a few weeks before my assesment to show the problems I have with my ostomy and the wound/hernia I have from the op that lead to me getting my ostomy, I also refused to get on the exam couch as yes I could get on it but no way would I* be safe getting off as there was no grab rails to help me sit up or steady myself! Fpr a place that does assesments on ill/disabled people they are really lacking on any aids what so ever!

[LZ-DEN]

well done Adam,and all the best to you...and to you C-W-K hope your medical goes ok for you.

[Belfaster]

Hi Adam, your experience was similar to mine, I had two medicals at Albert Bridge House and both were dreadful experiences. The building is cold, dirty and depressing, whilst the staff are little more than robots going about their business. I feel for you and hope you have passed the assessment, try to stay positive!

[hollowman]

had mine yesterday , was only asked maybe 6 questions , one was besides having to walk with a crutch ,having 2 slipped disks and sciatica what other things physically limit you . another was so when was your heart attack (even though the date was there on paper)

"so have you ever had physio on your back ?" "are you having anymore operations on youre spine?" and "so how long do your seizures last when your unconcious" ? how the hell would i know the answer to that im unconcious !.

physical examination consisted of blood pressure check , lung check witha stethescope? no idea why and a quick glance at both legs to see if i had muscle wastage on my right leg .

 

 

the guy spent more time actually typing on the pc that talking to me or my wife , i dont feel to good about it ,seems to be the worst medical i have ever attended .

[AdamManc88]

Update (21/03/2015):

 

So to my utter suprise (not that i don't feel that I don't deserve it), I have been placed in to the Support Group for 2 years.

 

I scored exactly the 15 points required.

 

From the report i received in the post i think it was this descriptor that scored the points...

 

"(ii) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion and therefore fifteen points are awarded for moving around”

 

I can on some days mobilise 50m with no problems at all, but on other days it either causes discomfort and pain, or i am simply bed-bound and i'm not walking any amount of metres.

 

Now having read other posts over the last few years on various forums, can i start to relax a bit now or are they going to keep sending for me? I know people have been asked to take forms of ID to the local JCP.

 

I hope if you're reading this then the Original Post can in someway help you in your Medical, and i wish you the best of luck with your outcome.

 

 

Adam

[honeybee13]

That's great, Adam, I'm really pleased for you and hope you have a couple of years of peace.

 

Thank you for the update, I'm sure it will give hope to other people in the same situation as you. I'll amend your thread title.

 

HB

[reallymadwoman]

Update (21/03/2015):

 

 

 

I scored exactly the 15 points required.

 

From the report i received in the post i think it was this descriptor that scored the points...

 

"(ii) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion and therefore fifteen points are awarded for moving around”

 

 

Adam

 

You may well have scored on other descriptors, but that one is a support group criteria so it's not necessary for them to go any further.

[Belfaster]

Happy for you Adam, hopefully two years of peace and remember everything is now voluntary in your case, WFIs etc.

[Lapsed Workaholic]

Update (21/03/2015):

 

So to my utter suprise (not that i don't feel that I don't deserve it), I have been placed in to the Support Group for 2 years.

 

I scored exactly the 15 points required.

 

From the report i received in the post i think it was this descriptor that scored the points...

 

"(ii) repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion and therefore fifteen points are awarded for moving around”

 

I can on some days mobilise 50m with no problems at all, but on other days it either causes discomfort and pain, or i am simply bed-bound and i'm not walking any amount of metres.

 

Now having read other posts over the last few years on various forums, can i start to relax a bit now or are they going to keep sending for me? I know people have been asked to take forms of ID to the local JCP.

 

I hope if you're reading this then the Original Post can in someway help you in your Medical, and i wish you the best of luck with your outcome.

 

 

Adam

Congratulations Adam and well done. Grateful to you too for taking the time and the trouble to update us on the result of your assessment so soon after you were told of it yourself.

I do hope that you can relax now and not allow yourself to become anxious about what may or may not happen next. Enough time to worry about any of that when it happens, if it happens. You may also take some comfort from the knowledge that the good contributors of CAG are always ready to help when they can, if they can.

I share your hope that others in similar circumstances may learn and take encouragement from your account of your experiences.

In addition to your excellent help already given I would hope that you keep in touch in order to provide advice, guidance and encouragement to others who may benefit or learn from your experience and how you managed to overcome.

[antone]

Now having read other posts over the last few years on various forums, can i start to relax a bit now or are they going to keep sending for me? I know people have been asked to take forms of ID to the local JCP.

 

 

Good to hear that the system works every now and then. While you are in the SG you should not be asked to attend any Work Focused Interviews or participate in the Work Programme - or rather, if you are asked to do either of these things your participation is both voluntary and inadvisable. The people you have heard of being asked to take in ID, bank statements or whatever have probably been called to Compliance or Performance Measurement interviews. Anyone who claims benefits can be asked to attend one of these (although many people never are) and you would need to participate if asked regardless of your ESA group. In these cases you could, if you preferred, request that they attend your home rather than have you trek into the office: it would be up to you. These interviews are not medical assessments and wouldn't affect your SG status. Don't stress about them - they're not all that common and if you are called, feel free to post here and we'll advise you on how to proceed.

 

The two year period for the SG is advisory, and technically not binding on the DWP. However, given the state of the medical assessment system at the moment, I would think it unlikely they'd call you back any sooner: they can barely deal with the essential medical assessments that they have to do, never mind calling people back unnecessarily.

[sillygirl1]

I've always thought they should leave the people alone who are already receiving appropriate treatment for their conditions - I am having to apply for PIP because the Working Tax Credit people say I am 'not disabled unless I get PIP'. I don't qualify for ESA at the moment as I am working, but once this job finishes I will be at a definite disadvantage.

 

The whole system is really geared to trying to prove the NHS is not doing the job properly and GPs are signing people off unnecessarily - which certainly is not the case.

 

Thanks for the tips, I will add the phrasing to the forms I have to fill in - not received them yet. I am back to to see my GP on Wednesday and will mention to her that I am applying for PIP.

 

There should not be a 'one benefit opens the doors for others' system other than basic housing and council tax, which should be managed locally rather than centrally, rents where I live in south-west London are significantly higher than in other parts of the country.

 

Good luck with the support group and keep us posted on your progress.

[hollowman]

i still havent recieved word back from my medical assesment ,which i had on the 11th of february . they said a max of 4 weeks before i heard anything .

[worried33]

interesting feedback. Whilst I have never been passed between two assessors, I do recall every time I attend, after the assessment is done and I am on the way back to the waiting room, the assessor rushes ahead and glances back to see where I am.

 

I also recall on one assessment when I had my back facing the chair I was sitting in, when I was asked to sit down again the chair had been moved as if it was a test to see if I could move it back, I didn't and sat in it facing the wrong way.