ATOS - help please. Do they read the esa50 or not?

dazza-mac
dazza-mac Posts: 336
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edited 19 July 2012 at 5:00PM in Disability money matters
Help required please.
I filled in the ESA50 and got it sent off. I listed the dates that I'd be unable to attend. I also asked for an afternoon appointment due to various reasons - all listed on the flaming form.

I have chronic insomnia, fibromyalgia, pains are worse in mornings, I feel sick in the morning due to lack of sleep but unable to lie in bed due to joints hurting etc etc.

They've given me a 9.45am appointment. I feel sick just thinking about it. This, I stress is not laziness. I don't want to stay in to watch Jeremy Kyle or some other crap that's on daytime tv. I don't go to bed on average until 5am. I feel sick today as I've not slept properly after a full week of 5 to 5.30am bedtimes and having to get up about 9am because of the pain.
I'll need to be up at 6.30 - 7am on appointment day. I'll be ill from the taxi journey (I have a lifelong phobia of vomiting).

Is there anything I can do? I tried phoning on my mobile today (freephone numbers are charged) as I don't have a landline and didn't want to use a public noisy phone. I asked them to ring me back when I eventually got through (now skint) and they wouldn't call back.

Is there any point in trying to get the appointment changed. It's got me really worried now that they obviously don't read the form and they couldn't possibly have written to the doctor for any info as I only sent the form in a couple of weeks ago.

Help please with any advice, or let me know if it's just not worth the added stress of trying to reason with them
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Comments

  • HB58
    HB58 Posts: 1,787 Forumite
    I think that the person making the appointment is a clerical worker who has no access to your ESA50. The HCP who carries out your assessment is supposed to have read your ESA50.

    You are allowed to rearrange one appointment without penalty, so you should be able to get this changed if you wish. Unfortunately, te only way to do this is to spend time, and money, hanging on the phone.

    Be warned that, once you have rearranged this appointment, you would not be allowed to rearrange another (without a lot of fuss, time and agro).
  • colin13
    colin13 Posts: 1,007 Forumite
    imo,if they do they dont bother with it,they put u through a examination,then make there desion,,there could be very important info in form,which they chose to ignore,,its only a scam by the tories to get people off incapacity benefit and get them working ,in 1 of the millions of jobs that there are ,,lol
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 12,945
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    i agtrr with HB58.... its just a clerical thing.

    i can only comment on my own experience, and u have just been reassessed without the need for a medical ..... so they must have read my ESA50!
  • vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
    vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv Posts: 958 Forumite
    edited 19 July 2012 at 10:26PM
    I put on mine that i can't have on assessment on a date and guess what,they made my appointment on that date,and i put do not ring me up,you can only make an appointment with me by letter,and you guessed it,they rang me.So they either don't read it or they just ignore whatever you put on it.


    DWP enquiry? Call 0113 230 9175 that number is to ATOS,the interigation company.

    http://dwpexamination.org/

    http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=showcat&catid=10
  • rogerblack
    rogerblack Posts: 9,446 Forumite
    While deliberately making yourself ill is of course a bad thing, if you could make it to a 9:45 interview, your symptoms will be most obvious.

    Similarly - while you can 'rest up' for a while before and improve for the day, this does not accurately reflect your condition.
  • grummps
    grummps Posts: 192 Forumite
    rogerblack wrote: »
    While deliberately making yourself ill is of course a bad thing, if you could make it to a 9:45 interview, your symptoms will be most obvious.

    Similarly - while you can 'rest up' for a while before and improve for the day, this does not accurately reflect your condition.

    Are you actually suggesting that you manipulate the system by accepting an early appointment because at that time in the morning, you are at your worst?

    Is that at all fair to those that have an assessment at a time when they will be at their best?
  • grummps
    grummps Posts: 192 Forumite
    edited 20 July 2012 at 2:10PM
    dazza-mac wrote: »
    Help required please.
    I filled in the ESA50 and got it sent off. I listed the dates that I'd be unable to attend. I also asked for an afternoon appointment due to various reasons - all listed on the flaming form.

    I have chronic insomnia, fibromyalgia, pains are worse in mornings, I feel sick in the morning due to lack of sleep but unable to lie in bed due to joints hurting etc etc.

    They've given me a 9.45am appointment. I feel sick just thinking about it. This, I stress is not laziness. I don't want to stay in to watch Jeremy Kyle or some other crap that's on daytime tv. I don't go to bed on average until 5am. I feel sick today as I've not slept properly after a full week of 5 to 5.30am bedtimes and having to get up about 9am because of the pain.
    I'll need to be up at 6.30 - 7am on appointment day. I'll be ill from the taxi journey (I have a lifelong phobia of vomiting).

    Is there anything I can do? I tried phoning on my mobile today (freephone numbers are charged) as I don't have a landline and didn't want to use a public noisy phone. I asked them to ring me back when I eventually got through (now skint) and they wouldn't call back.

    Is there any point in trying to get the appointment changed. It's got me really worried now that they obviously don't read the form and they couldn't possibly have written to the doctor for any info as I only sent the form in a couple of weeks ago.

    Help please with any advice, or let me know if it's just not worth the added stress of trying to reason with them


    I can confirm that they certainly do not look at the ESA50 when making the appointment, nor do they consider the contents of that form when deciding if you actually need to have an assessment.

    In my case, I had a telephone call from ATOS to arrange a date for the assessment, and still had the uncompleted ESA50 on the dining table! In fact the assessment took place two days before I was required to send the ESA50 back!! I came home from the assessment on the Monday and posted the ESA50 off on the following Wednesday.
    The decision to award me 0 points was dated 5 days after the assessment date. When I obtained the ESA85 and a copy of my ESA50 (for future reference) the date received stamp on the ESA50 was one day after the date of the decision notice!!!

    Yet they said that they had used the ESA50 as part of the decision making evidence.


    Uuummm and pigs fly! When I pointed this discrepancy out to the DWP and sent in some evidence they never replied to my query just put me in the Support Group for 3 years.
  • rogerblack
    rogerblack Posts: 9,446 Forumite
    grummps wrote: »
    Are you actually suggesting that you manipulate the system by accepting an early appointment because at that time in the morning, you are at your worst?

    Is that at all fair to those that have an assessment at a time when they will be at their best?

    I am suggesting that you comply with instructions you are given.

    You are not misrepresenting your condition, if you have informed them of your difficulties getting to the appointment.

    While you are required to not do anything to worsen your condition, you are not required to do anything abnormal to improve it.

    This means that though you can possibly get more able to get to the interview if you rest for a couple of days - doing so actively misrepresents your condition, as it's something you couldn't do in work.
  • schrodie
    schrodie Posts: 8,410 Forumite
    edited 20 July 2012 at 3:24PM
    Request that your assessment is recorded, the chances that Atos will have a recording device available at your assessment centre is low and they will have to rearrange your assessment until one becomes available.
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