Ask Atos Healthcare disability assessment questions

Atos_Healthcare_representative · 30 January 2013 at 10:04AM

isolation wrote: »

Thank you, Do you not think that some extra training is necessary as several members of your staff do not know that there is more that one stage of your complaints procedure ?

Also, as your staff refuse to provide details of the complaints procedure, do you really not think that your customers services staff have a duty to inform 'customers' of the next stage ? Otherwise people who complain about your 'service' have no idea at what stage they are at or even if other stages exist - or is that the point ?

Dee
dwpnegilgence.wordpress.com

isolation,

sorry if this did not happen in your case, but normally with every letter acknowledging the registration of a complaint there is a leaflet that explains the complaint process, including the different possible stages.

Atos_Healthcare_representative · 30 January 2013 at 10:18AM

Lady_Andrea wrote: »

To the Atos Healthcare company representative

We all know not to be true. Atos is fully responsible for the decision making based on their flawed LiMA software. FoI request confirms LiMA software might NOT be 100% up-to-date with the latest medical researches.
Further FoI request to DWP also confirms Atos do NOT take into consideration GP/Consultants medical reports as they are NOT trained to assess disability like Atos assessors are.

Hi Lady Andrea,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I can confirm that all decision making for Employment and Support Allowance is carried out by the DWP, not by Atos Healthcare. We do use a bespoke software application called LiMA. It supports consistency in the report and enables an electronic version to be sent to DWP, although HCPs are not driven by the application and they are always required to use their own clinical judgement and experience. It is regularly updated with the latest relevant medical research. We take GP/Healthcare Professional advice into consideration at two possible points – at the paper based assessment where the information may be sufficient to advise DWP that a face to face assessment is not required and/or at the face to face assessment where the HCP will assess relevant information provided by the individual.

Atos_Healthcare_representative · 30 January 2013 at 10:20AM

Mordred12 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice and the confirmation. Sorry to ask another question. How many times roughly would you try phoning a client before sending a letter? And if you did ring would it be shown as a Private number? I only ask this because a private number phoned today. Again thanks for all your replies and help.

Mordred12, we would try up to 3 times over a 3 day period. The number shown would be our contact centre number 0800 2888777

Atos_Healthcare_representative · 30 January 2013 at 10:24AM

Redman wrote: »

This answer is incorrect.

It has become obvious by reading posts from people on other websites that ATOS are sending out new ESA50's without the DWP instigating it, as the DWP have no knowledge of it, when inquiries are made.

QUESTION to ATOS Rep :

Have ATOS ever sent out an ESA50 to reassess an ESA recipient, without a referral from the DWP ?

Hi Redman

Atos Healthcare will not have sent out an ESA50 to someone without it having been specifically prompted by a referral from the DWP.

Atos_Healthcare_representative · 30 January 2013 at 10:29AM

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

But consistent is not what the 'customer' wants. The customer wants correct. When I go for an eye test I don't care that Joe Bloggs half a country away is getting identical treatment to me... I want good service. The customer wants procedure to be followed and to have opportunity to be properly assessed against the criteria. And this is the problem with your auditing. It 'forces' compliance to within certain expectations of efficiency and arguably outcome (as no member of staff I've ever encountered liked to be audited for irregularity... and I've audited many for that to ensure they were following correct procedures or falling within certain ranges of expected outcome.. and yes there were no targets either!) rather than setting the benchmark as accuracy. It is quite clear HCPs are under enormous pressure to process swiftly - customers report widely variant examples of this being evident. In fact in my case the excuse given for not reading my ESA50 was that she (the HCP) did not have time (would your audit pick this up? I doubt it). And of course HCPs themselves I understand have placed in the public domain similar complaint. So my question is obviously when are the internal auditing processes going to focus on accuracy (throughout HCP career) as the main KPI?

Muttleythefrog, apologies if I wasn’t clear in the answer. When I said consistent I was referring to the quality, which means that each assessment is based on the individual’s circumstances applied against the ESA descriptors.

JS477 · 30 January 2013 at 11:00AM

Question to the Atos PR Rep.

How many "Atos doctors" or "Healthcare professionals" are currently under investigation by the General Medical Council over allegations of improper conduct?

If you aren't prepared this answer this question just say!

Atos_Healthcare_representative · 30 January 2013 at 11:10AM

damo24 wrote: »

Firstly can you please explain the decision making process that decides whether a claimant is required to attend a WCA or not? In 2011, I received an ESA50 to transfer me from Incapacity Benefit to ESA. I completed the form and was granted ESA (work related activity group) without having to attend an assessment.

Approximately 12 months later (in the same week) I received another ESA50 and a DLA renewal form. As the questions are very similar in both forms the answers provided were very similar. More so, as my condition had neither improved nor deteriorated in the 12 months since my last ESA50 was completed, the form was more or less a carbon copy of the previous form with the appropriate changes to medication etc made. I was awarded DLA at the same rate for 2 years yet this time I was called in for a WCA with regards to ESA. I find this lack of continuity extremely confusing. If I received enough points from the paper sift one year why did I not the next when the forms were almost identical?

Hi Damo24, all referrals will be reviewed initially and there could be a variety of factors that might result in a need for a face to face assessment rather than the provision of advice straight away to the DWP. For example, it might be the case that the first time additional information was requested from your GP and received, but the second year it wasn’t received, but it is very difficult to comment on the specific reasons in your own situation.

Bearing in mind that I suffer from complex mental health issues, can you please explain what training the assessors undertake with regards to mental health problems? As far as I understand it, the assessors are medically trained staff such as Doctors or nurses however I do not believe that they are psychiatrists or RMNs (Registered Mental Health Nurses) so I am interested to discover what qualifications they have or additional training they undergo to assess mental health conditions with regards to the effect such conditions have on someone's capability for work.

All health care professionals undergo approved mental health training to build on their broad clinicalknowledge base. The training focuses on mental health problems and how to assess them within the ESA legislation. In addition to this all HCPs have access to Mental Function Champions – health care professionals who have a background in mental health – who can provide advice on a case by case basis.

Surely a Consultant Psychiatrist would fall into the category of a "Health Care Professional" so the question is why was he not consulted prior to the WCA?

A GP normally holds all patient records, from any additional health professionals they might be seeing or have seen, so it is usually most appropriate to contact the GP. However, it is not always the case that a request is made to any health professional if, based on the questionnaire and any other information sent in, it appears that a face to face assessment will be required.

Can you please explain why your assessment only counts "rocking" as being a sign of anxiety when this contradicts your own protocols?

All of the signs that you mention will have been assessed in producing the advice. The purpose of the report is to record the findings of the health care professional in an understandable way.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv · 30 January 2013 at 11:12AM

JS477 wrote: »

Question to the Atos PR Rep.

How many "Atos doctors" or "Healthcare professionals" are currently under investigation by the General Medical Council over allegations of improper conduct?

If you aren't prepared this answer this question just say!

I think with some questions the atos rep toddles off and has to ask someone higher up how to [STRIKE]spin[/STRIKE] answer it.

JS477 · 30 January 2013 at 11:14AM

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv wrote: »

I think with some questions the atos rep toddles off and has to ask someone higher up how to [STRIKE]spin[/STRIKE] answer it.

Or they go over to they atos website to see if they can Copy & Paste a response!

It will be interesting to see if they ignore this important question though!!!

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv · 30 January 2013 at 11:16AM

Karma will get him/her one day

Ask Atos Healthcare disability assessment questions

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