Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support

[ViolentPanda]

Congratulations ViolentPanda and Greebo! but yes Greebo, it is so annoying that, even taking into account the disgusting way they've changed the goalposts for PIP to exclude lots of people who have been claiming DLA, they aren't making the correct decisions with the new criteria in the first place in so many cases - almost like they're hoping disabled people, their carers, and their families will just give up and go without

What really pissed me off, was getting a copy of the report by the "healthcare professional", where what I'd told him (we recorded!) and what he'd written were at odds. He'd pretty much edited what I'd said, leaving out a lot of important information. The most hilarious bit though, was where he'd done some muscle stress tests. He forgot about these until we were almost out the door, and then did them in 3-4 minutes. From this *3-4 minutes of spaffing about, he produced an entire A4 page of detailed data about my degree of limb movement! Obviously a true expert in the field of musculo-skeletal problems!!!

*In comparison, I had an appointment with a consultant physiotherapist 3 weeks after the Atos assessment to do much the same set of tests, and she took over an hour to do fewer, but to do them properly.

 

[Celyn]

That's stunningly good news! Better had they not left you worrying till the last minute, but it's still great news. Very pleased for you!

 

[BCBlues]

Great news ViolentPanda and Greebo.
A bit more good news for us all here too...

PIP: walking through pain is not walking to an acceptable standard | Disability Rights UK

Keep up the good fight everyone.

 

[ViolentPanda]

The judgement from the Courts & Tribunals Service just arrived. It's very interesting reading. The DWP decision-maker awarded me 9 points for Daily Living, with no points scored for 3 different sections. The Tribunal awarded me 18 points for Daily Living, including scoring me 1pt, 4pts and 4pts in the three sections that the DWP awarded me no points in!

It's worth, if you can, taking these DWP bastards on.

 

[BCBlues]

The judgement from the Courts & Tribunals Service just arrived. It's very interesting reading. The DWP decision-maker awarded me 9 points for Daily Living, with no points scored for 3 different sections. The Tribunal awarded me 18 points for Daily Living, including scoring me 1pt, 4pts and 4pts in the three sections that the DWP awarded me no points in!

It's worth, if you can, taking these DWP bastards on.

Well done VP. Thats cheered my day up.

 

[Greebo]

Well done VP. Thats cheered my day up.

That was the general idea - any time that one of us wins, it adds to the case law which improves the chances of every other claimant.

 

[passenger]

,,

 

[xsunnysuex]

Got my ESA f2f at 11am tomorrow. Crapping myself.

 

[Celyn]

Eek. Best of luck. Fingers crossed and all that.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Got my ESA f2f at 11am tomorrow. Crapping myself.

The best of luck to you, Sue.

 

[Celyn]

Today I apparently had phone calls from the DWP. That is, landline phone rang and I didn't pick it up, thinking it would be a nuisance call, and it rang again later. MUCH later, i.e c. 17.20, I looked at my mobile, which showed two missed calls from an unavailable number, and a text message from the DWP saying that they were going to phone me and that the phone number might show as unavailable or withheld. That *might* have been useful to know, but of course it was far too late.

Now it doesn't even seem possible to reply to their damned text message. So will I now be in the bad books for not replying and for not picking up the phone? Surely I am allowed to dislike phone calls?

 

[Greebo]

Got my ESA f2f at 11am tomorrow. Crapping myself.

Holding a good thought for you, best of luck.

 

[pogo 10]

Good luck x sunny suex

 

[crossthebreeze]

Good luck xsunnysuex

 

[Celyn]

... and more good luck!

 

[Libertad]

Got my ESA f2f at 11am tomorrow. Crapping myself.

All the best Sue.

 

[xsunnysuex]

Fuckers. Got 5 mins away from assessment center and they phoned and cancelled.

 

[WouldBe]

Today I apparently had phone calls from the DWP. That is, landline phone rang and I didn't pick it up, thinking it would be a nuisance call, and it rang again later. MUCH later, i.e c. 17.20, I looked at my mobile, which showed two missed calls from an unavailable number, and a text message from the DWP saying that they were going to phone me and that the phone number might show as unavailable or withheld. That *might* have been useful to know, but of course it was far too late.

Now it doesn't even seem possible to reply to their damned text message. So will I now be in the bad books for not replying and for not picking up the phone? Surely I am allowed to dislike phone calls?

I dislike phone calls as well. I always let the answer machine cut in but idiots like the DWP don't say anything let alone leave a message even though I've stated I dislike phone calls on all the forms I've filled in.

I've had a few unavailable phone calls recently wonder if they may be from DWP.

 

[Libertad]

Fuckers. Got 5 mins away from assessment center and they phoned and cancelled.

 

[BCBlues]

Fuckers. Got 5 mins away from assessment center and they phoned and cancelled.

Prats aint they. Dont let it get you down.

 

[Celyn]

Fuckers. Got 5 mins away from assessment center and they phoned and cancelled.

Horrible. And very horrible. How is it that they are allowed to do a sudden cancellation, but no actual person is allowed to cancel on grounds of "really cannot go out today" despite making efforts to do so?

Oh damn, I do really hope things get to work better for you.

 

[equationgirl]

Bastards. if you did that there'd be sanctions.

Fuckers. Got 5 mins away from assessment center and they phoned and cancelled.

 

[Greebo]

Fuckers. Got 5 mins away from assessment center and they phoned and cancelled.

Grr! Put in a formal complaint, in writing (ie on paper). Request a refund of your travel expenses and also of the paid time if somebody had to take part of their day off work to go with you.

Refunding at least travel expenses is standard practce and AFAIK friendofdorothy actually got a written apology after a cancellation.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Grr! Put in a formal complaint, in writing (ie on paper). Request a refund of your travel expenses and also of the paid time if somebody had to take part of their day off work to go with you.

Refunding at least travel expenses is standard practce and AFAIK friendofdorothy actually got a written apology after a cancellation.

got a cheque for my loss of earnings too as I had taken a day off to accompany B. They didn't seem to give a fuck about upsetting and making buscador ill though.

 

[Celyn]

Hell. Not sure if I want to "like" that or not, if you see what I mean. Liked for not losing money exactly, but very much unlike in all possible other ways.

 

[Greebo]

<snip> They didn't seem to give a fuck about upsetting and making buscador ill though.

They wouldn't - it's the same mindset as not caring how long a claimant is kept waiting around before signing on - the claimant's time and health are irrelevant.

 

[equationgirl]

Today I apparently had phone calls from the DWP. That is, landline phone rang and I didn't pick it up, thinking it would be a nuisance call, and it rang again later. MUCH later, i.e c. 17.20, I looked at my mobile, which showed two missed calls from an unavailable number, and a text message from the DWP saying that they were going to phone me and that the phone number might show as unavailable or withheld. That *might* have been useful to know, but of course it was far too late.

Now it doesn't even seem possible to reply to their damned text message. So will I now be in the bad books for not replying and for not picking up the phone? Surely I am allowed to dislike phone calls?

I don't pick up most calls to my landlines, and at work I never pick unknown number calls because it's generally spammers. They could at least leave a message, but if you have specified not to phone then they should abide by that.

But as Greebo says, they don't give a shit about the claimant.

 

[Calamity1971]

I've just had to get a 14 day extension to fill in my pip form. I was originally down as getting DLA indefinately. I'm always bad at filling in official forms and often don't open my mail or answer the telephone even if I know who's calling. My close friends understand that sometimes I don't want to talk ( find talking sometimes exhausting). My local CAB is shite and getting an appointment with the pontif would be easier. When I originally applied I was backed by ex union people at a local resource centre. SHARP - shiney advice and resource project. Fantastic place but I have moved to Durham and can longer use them due to local funding. To top it all off my dad passed away sunday gone but they would still only give me 14 days. Gives me a window of about 3 days to sort it inbetween sorting and attending funeral 4 and half hours away and working a shitty job were compassionate leave is at a minimum. Any advice on anyone who can help, someone mentioned 'mind' helping them out.

 

[crossthebreeze]

I've just had to get a 14 day extension to fill in my pip form. I was originally down as getting DLA indefinately. I'm always bad at filling in official forms and often don't open my mail or answer the telephone even if I know who's calling. My close friends understand that sometimes I don't want to talk ( find talking sometimes exhausting). My local CAB is shite and getting an appointment with the pontif would be easier. When I originally applied I was backed by ex union people at a local resource centre. SHARP - shiney advice and resource project. Fantastic place but I have moved to Durham and can longer use them due to local funding. To top it all off my dad passed away sunday gone but they would still only give me 14 days. Gives me a window of about 3 days to sort it inbetween sorting and attending funeral 4 and half hours away and working a shitty job were compassionate leave is at a minimum. Any advice on anyone who can help, someone mentioned 'mind' helping them out.

Sorry to hear about your bereavement Calamity1971, it sounds like you're having a difficult time of it with the PIP form too. For help with the form you could try Durham Community Support Centre (open on Wednesdays and Thursdays) or Durham CC Welfare Rights (open mornings mon-fri). Also Benefits and Work have a guide to filling in PIP forms which is really good - but it'll cost you £19.95 to get access to their guides for a year.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Sorry to hear about your bereavement Calamity1971, it sounds like you're having a difficult time of it with the PIP form too. For help with the form you could try Durham Community Support Centre (open on Wednesdays and Thursdays) or Durham CC Welfare Rights (open mornings mon-fri). Also Benefits and Work have a guide to filling in PIP forms which is really good - but it'll cost you £19.95 to get access to their guides for a year.

If Calamity1971 PMs me an e-mail address, I'll mail them a pdf of the latest B & W PIP guide.