Ask Atos Healthcare disability assessment questions

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Hi everyone

Can we ask a favour?

Could you try to keep the thread on topic, with just questions for Atos please so they can easily see the questions and hopefully give our forum users answers?

Also, where it can't answer a question because it's not something it covers we're encouraging Atos to post saying it can't answer but that it can give a link to where the answer can be found.

Obviously this shouldn't take away from posts it can answer but hopefully this will help people when it can't.

Thanks in advance

Andrea

Atos Rep, can I once again ask you to answer my question which was originally posted at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=58600685&postcount=148 then at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=58804139&postcount=372, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=58957771&postcount=634, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=59057755&postcount=794 and finally at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=59228407&postcount=1072.

Just to remind you, the question I asked was why the person completing the ESA85 does not have to complete the justification section with any meaningful or evidenced observation?

I know of people who have had this section completely missed out and in my case the form is below (with personal details redacted): Despite suffering from complex mental health problems for more than 4 years (at the time of the assessment) the HCP states that he feels that I will be able to return to work within 3 months and his ONLY justification for this is that (in his opinion) my "level of disability would be expected to improve". I should point out that nearly 9 months on from the WCA my GP, CPN and Consultant Psychiatrist feel that I an still not well enough to return to work and in fact my condition has deteriorated due to the stress of the appeals process.

Surely this advice is not "justified with reference to the evidence gathered". And would fail any "Regular random quality audit review" and does not provide any "consistency between the evidence present and the advice offered".

I appreciate that you cannot discuss individual cases but can you please explain how an HCP (who was a Doctor) can get away with such a brief justification without providing evidence to back up his prognosis?

Question for the Atos rep...

I sent in my ESA50 with all my med reports etc I was then contacted by Atos with an appointment, I spoke to my Gp about it and he wrote another report in which he said in the last para Given the circumstances I am somewhat surprised that he is being called for a face to face medical assessment and wonder if the necessary facts have been made available to the medical team.


In view of this I then asked Atos for the reason for a face to face assessment and they replied with what the nurse said who looked at my EAS50 and any other available evidence “I am unable to advise on the evidence held. The case will need to be referred for assessment”

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

I have checked the details on the NMC site and found that this Nurse didn't have any additional qualifications shown? so I rang the NMC to ask what does this mean? the gentleman at NMC told be that she is just a Nurse without any other qualification, so I said so you mean a bog standard nurse? to which he replied well I wouldn't have put it like that but yes the nurse in question hasn't undergone any other training and holds no other qualifications except basic nursing.




So my question is... How can a bog standard nurse make these kind of decisions? when it's obvious from the evidence supplied she simply couldn't understand it!!