Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support

[audiotech]

The Independent piece focuses more about "value for money", but it does contain this nugget:

Anyone taking the Work Capacity Assessment today is now eight times more likely to end up in a tribunal than a job and the cost of those appeals has soared by 40 per cent in the last year alone. Ministers have got to fix this mess – fast.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

The Independent piece focuses more about "value for money", but it does contain this nugget:

Well I remember last year reports of the appeals costing £40m (or was it £60m), so are they saying 40% on top of that figure?!

 

[audiotech]

Well I remember last year reports of the appeals costing £40m (or was it £60m), so are they saying 40% on top of that figure?!

I'm assuming so, but it's not clear. The figures released by the National Audit Office and reported in the Independent piece reveal that Atos has been paid £754m for assessments since 2005 and annual spending on the medical services contract had risen from £73.3m in 2005-06 to £114.3m in the year to March.

 

[existentialist]

I've not read it, but the last encouraging news about ATOS wasn't really that encouraging as it wasn't the assessments/decisions themselves that were being slated, but more the paperwork, and the Government said the decisions were correct.

Well, they would, wouldn't they? The True Believer will swallow the line, but I have to say that to anyone whose suspicions are already being aroused, the government's bland denials are going to look suspiciously hollow. We're in for the long haul, and it may well be that most of the discrediting of this dark farce won't get done until long after it's stopped being carried on, but all of these things are nails in its eventual coffin. I just hope it doesn't happen so slowly that the damage done is irreparable for too many people, even though it's already too late for many.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I'm assuming so, but it's not clear. The figures released by the National Audit Office and reported in the Independent piece reveal that Atos has been paid £754m for assessments since 2005 and annual spending on the medical services contract had risen from £73.3m in 2005-06 to £114.3m in the year to March.

hm, so wonder if that's extra £40m is the increased cost of the assessments over the years, or the extra cost related to appeals?

 

[Quartz]

More bad news for ATOS, the National Audit Office are taking an interest in them about their assessments:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...sickness-and-disability-benefits-8744254.html

Great news.

 

[laptop]

hm, so wonder if that's extra £40m is the increased cost of the assessments over the years, or the extra cost related to appeals?

Looks like it's the ATOS contract:

annual spending on the medical services contract

The contract wouldn't include the appeals, would it?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Looks like it's the ATOS contract:



The contract wouldn't include the appeals, would it?

doubt it

If they set aside that much for appeals, it would be almost like admiting it's fucked up

 

[WouldBe]

Looks like it's the ATOS contract:



The contract wouldn't include the appeals, would it?

That sounds to me like the contracts for the medical staff. So looks like they are having to pay more to get people to work for them.

 

[ViolentPanda]

The Independent piece focuses more about "value for money", but it does contain this nugget:

The problem being that governmental logic usually dictates a "solution" that involves legislating away protections for clients, not legislating penalties for the actual wrongdoers.

 

[frogwoman]

http://www.afteratos.com/disabled-work-camps-abuse-ill-treatment-cruelty/

whats the story behind this then?

 

[Greebo]

http://www.afteratos.com/disabled-work-camps-abuse-ill-treatment-cruelty/

whats the story behind this then?

Reading between the lines, it's one of the consequences of the DWP's ability to direct which treatment (including rehabilitation) you have, on pain of having your ESA sanctioned. Not entirely sure how it fits in with DLA though, there's a lot which seems borderline illegal about it.

 

[Greebo]

Good morning all you who are wrestling with ATOS. Inspired by accumulated accounts of bad behaviour, denial, and sheer incompetence, here's a little something to start the week.

 

[audiotech]

What you need to know about Atos assessments.

 

[geminisnake]

My head's gone all light and weird just reading that, couldn't read the regulations too!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

What you need to know about Atos assessments.

You what?!

• Do you have supporting medical evidence from your GP or consultants. If you do, it shows that you are able to organise getting this information

Organise as in getting it out of a file or out of a bunch of papers?

FFS

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

• Were you reading a paper while waiting – assessing your concentration

Fine, plenty of people can look at a paper. They may just be looking at page 3 or other pictures. People with memory loss can read a paper. Doesn't mean they'll remember any of what they've read 2 minutes later

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

The HCP will use lack of specialist input/ hospital admissions to justify assessing your condition as less severe.

or maybe there's no cure/treatment available for your condition or there's nothing else they can do for you

I give up reading this. Only getting wound up

 

[Greebo]

or maybe there's no cure/treatment available for your condition or there's nothing else they can do for you <snip>

Looks like anyone with M.E. or CFS is provisionally stuffed by default unless they appeal after the assessment. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Looks like anyone with M.E. or CFS is provisionally stuffed by default unless they appeal after the assessment. I hope I'm wrong.

It's all such fucking shite

 

[Greebo]

It's all such fucking shite

Agreed, but at least we're forewarned.

 

[Celt]

My head's gone all light and weird just reading that, couldn't read the regulations too!

no I can't finish reading it, trying to fill the form in I feel beaten already

 

[buscador]

What you need to know about Atos assessments.

Thanks for that - some really useful stuff in there. Might take a few goes to properly digest it all though.

 

[Greebo]

<snip> feel beaten already

But you're not. We're not. All we have to do is to outlast the bastards. I'm not saying that it's going to be easy or pleasant, but it can be done.

 

[Frumious B.]

Looks like anyone with M.E. or CFS is provisionally stuffed by default unless they appeal after the assessment.

I have it, but I sailed into the support group. I can't broadcast how I did it. Maybe I could advise by PM or over a coffee.

 

[Greebo]

I have it, but I sailed into the support group. I can't broadcast how I did it. Maybe I could advise by PM or over a coffee.

Thanks for the offer. By PM would probably be the better option, given the physical state of VP at the moment.

 

[WouldBe]

Looks like anyone with M.E. or CFS is provisionally stuffed by default unless they appeal after the assessment. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm doing a pacing course at the moment from a specialist CFS clinic. Does that count?

 

[WouldBe]

You what?!



Organise as in getting it out of a file or out of a bunch of papers?

FFS

Just tell them your solicitor requested your med notes. That should shit them up a bit.

 

[Greebo]

I'm doing a pacing course at the moment from a specialist CFS clinic. Does that count?

Politeness does not permit me (even on urban) to reach for enough obscenities to fully convey my disgust and anger at what pacing courses and so-called CFS clinics have done to people with M.E.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Just tell them your solicitor requested your med notes. That should shit them up a bit.

The thing is, what's their definition of "organising"?

Does it means ringing consultants and getting letters? Does it mean retrieving letter from your filing system?

If you've opted in to automatically receive copies of all letters from hospital, retrieving it from a pile of papers or a file hardly shows organising ability does it (especially if someone does your organising (filing) for you!)