Atos medical assessment, something weird happend, advice needed

atrixblue.-MFR-.

hi guys. im on income support/IB contribution IB sent me for a medical 15/2/2010. i struggled to attend and was thinking of cancelling it and going into hospital as i was respondiong to my meds, severe brittle asthmatic, but i went anyway just to show them i am ill if you get me.

there were no off road carpark to this medical centre and parking spaces outside the centre on the road were full of cars allong the street the oposite side has double yellows, so i parked oposite on double yellows or i wouldnt have been able to walk the distance from the next street over.

i had someone with me as i cant cope being in unfamiliar places on my own and the state i was in i needed the help from my BIL to cross the road to the centre, finally got in the centre and the receptionist was know where to be seen! and the waiting room doors have to be buzzed to get in so was stranded in a small corridore for 10 mins got buzzed in she asked me to sign some forms but i was shaking that much from my meds i'd taken i couldnt hold the pen and lack of breath i couldnt concerntrate on the questions on the paper, so my BIL asked if he could fill it in and i try and sign it on my behalf, he was refused so the paper looked a mess after i completed it.

waited 45mins in the waiting room way past appointment time, finally the doc called me in, BIL helped me out of seat and across the corridore into the examination room, doctor commented on my chest saying you suffer bad with asthma i see, i nodded chest was so bad at this point i couldnt talk properly, he asked if i was like this all the time (took me ages but my reply was) 70% of the time yes, he asked why i wasnt on oxygen therapy, my reply was i'm not suitable consultant done bloods and found i'm not suitable, he said that he could note me being present at the medical and send me home and i'd still get benefit but would have to come back in six weeks or carry on witrh the assessment, well i got this far so a said we'll carry on, i pulled out all my meds and explained them all and what the were for (took a long time but i got there) and also had my nebuliser with me for him to see i owned one, i also took my prescription with me he entered them into the system allong with the meds i brought, now heres where it goes wierd.

he read my ib50 form that he had infront of him,got up out of his seat with my prescription requests and said he'll be back soon went out the door and closed behind him, 5 mins later came back and said ok you can go home now. why did he take my scripts with him not the ib 50 did he call my GP i wounder will find out wednesday i got to see him.

so im left woundering whether he aborted the asessment,because i seemed too ill to him and has requested i come back, or whether i have completed the assesment and i wait to hear. he didnt say i'd have to come back just said ok go you can go home now.

any one else had this too or is it just me?

lavidaloca

My OH didn't get as far as the medical. As soon as the Dr read his notes she said she couldn't understand why he had been called at all given his many conditions. So we went home thinking he would be put in the support group.

A few weeks later we received a letter to say he was in the work group. Quite a few weeks after that he was called for his assessment. This all happened late summer. Never heard anything else until last week when someone rang to see if his conditions had changed. His main condition is chronic renal failure for which he is on daily dialysis. No said I it will only change if he gets a kidney transplant. That floored her. This is my biggest bone of contention with this sytem. People in an office with no medical training hold your fate in their hands. She said "oh we will defer his work interview again". We hadn't had any correspondence to say they had been doing this in the first place.

Anyway I wouldn't worry if I were you. You should next hear which group you have been put in. If it's not the support group please do not worry as, when you are called to your first work interview, they should see that from your description of how you were at the medical, that there is no way you can work and will defer.

healy

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

hi guys. im on income support/IB contribution IB sent me for a medical 15/2/2010. i struggled to attend and was thinking of cancelling it and going into hospital as i was respondiong to my meds, severe brittle asthmatic, but i went anyway just to show them i am ill if you get me.

there were no off road carpark to this medical centre and parking spaces outside the centre on the road were full of cars allong the street the oposite side has double yellows, so i parked oposite on double yellows or i wouldnt have been able to walk the distance from the next street over.

i had someone with me as i cant cope being in unfamiliar places on my own and the state i was in i needed the help from my BIL to cross the road to the centre, finally got in the centre and the receptionist was know where to be seen! and the waiting room doors have to be buzzed to get in so was stranded in a small corridore for 10 mins got buzzed in she asked me to sign some forms but i was shaking that much from my meds i'd taken i couldnt hold the pen and lack of breath i couldnt concerntrate on the questions on the paper, so my BIL asked if he could fill it in and i try and sign it on my behalf, he was refused so the paper looked a mess after i completed it.

waited 45mins in the waiting room way past appointment time, finally the doc called me in, BIL helped me out of seat and across the corridore into the examination room, doctor commented on my chest saying you suffer bad with asthma i see, i nodded chest was so bad at this point i couldnt talk properly, he asked if i was like this all the time (took me ages but my reply was) 70% of the time yes, he asked why i wasnt on oxygen therapy, my reply was i'm not suitable consultant done bloods and found i'm not suitable, he said that he could note me being present at the medical and send me home and i'd still get benefit but would have to come back in six weeks or carry on witrh the assessment, well i got this far so a said we'll carry on, i pulled out all my meds and explained them all and what the were for (took a long time but i got there) and also had my nebuliser with me for him to see i owned one, i also took my prescription with me he entered them into the system allong with the meds i brought, now heres where it goes wierd.

he read my ib50 form that he had infront of him,got up out of his seat with my prescription requests and said he'll be back soon went out the door and closed behind him, 5 mins later came back and said ok you can go home now. why did he take my scripts with him not the ib 50 did he call my GP i wounder will find out wednesday i got to see him.

so im left woundering whether he aborted the asessment,because i seemed too ill to him and has requested i come back, or whether i have completed the assesment and i wait to hear. he didnt say i'd have to come back just said ok go you can go home now.

any one else had this too or is it just me?

I have read about this happening a number of times and the claimant has received a letter telling them they have passed the medical afterwards, so it sounds to me that you have probably passed the medical. The Doctor can stop the medical early if they think they have gathered enough information.

richard9991

lavidaloca wrote: »

My OH didn't get as far as the medical. As soon as the Dr read his notes she said she couldn't understand why he had been called at all given his many conditions. So we went home thinking he would be put in the support group.

A few weeks later we received a letter to say he was in the work group. Quite a few weeks after that he was called for his assessment. This all happened late summer. Never heard anything else until last week when someone rang to see if his conditions had changed. His main condition is chronic renal failure for which he is on daily dialysis. No said I it will only change if he gets a kidney transplant. That floored her. This is my biggest bone of contention with this sytem. People in an office with no medical training hold your fate in their hands. She said "oh we will defer his work interview again". We hadn't had any correspondence to say they had been doing this in the first place.

Anyway I wouldn't worry if I were you. You should next hear which group you have been put in. If it's not the support group please do not worry as, when you are called to your first work interview, they should see that from your description of how you were at the medical, that there is no way you can work and will defer.

the op is on incap /income support the support/work group do not apply as not on esa.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

healy wrote: »

I have read about this happening a number of times and the claimant has received a letter telling them they have passed the medical afterwards, so it sounds to me that you have probably passed the medical. The Doctor can stop the medical early if they think they have gathered enough information.

to me it just felt wierd you see all the post here about atos and their frustration theyve been found fit for work when they arent or the doc wasnt at all profesional in his conduct but this doc seemed really concerned and understanding. i must have been lucky either that he'd seen so many people that morning he considered fit for work then seeing me he may have thought i deserved the consideration and understanding.

healy

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

to me it just felt wierd you see all the post here about atos and their frustration theyve been found fit for work when they arent or the doc wasnt at all profesional in his conduct but this doc seemed really concerned and understanding. i must have been lucky either that he'd seen so many people that morning he considered fit for work then seeing me he may have thought i deserved the consideration and understanding.

Although it clearly is not easy to pass the medical for ESA this forum is always going have many more people with negative experiences because they come here for help. Those that are successful and have good experiences are much less likely to post.

MuckyDucky

Perhaps the doctor went to photocopy the prescriptions to put them in your file?

It's not the doctor that decides you've passed the medical, someone uses the information he's gathered to count up the points and see if you meet the target.

I'm sure you'll pass, don't worry too much about it. I passed my Medical last September and have no negative comments about it. The nurse interviewing me was nice, and I receieved the 'pass' letter only a week later.

BeenThroughIt

My wife is incapacitated so we both cannot work, I care for her.

so applied for ESA

Massive set of forms comes through the post runs to some 50pages

Phone a charity like A4U who help to fill out these types of forms

also check out benefitsandwork[.co.uk] they provide a lot of info for free and also reasonably cheap premium services. I recommend these.

You must be seeing the ONE doctor regularly otherwise you will FAIL at the first hurdle most doctors only see patients very infrequently and WILL fill out the forms conservatively unless you know them reasonably well 4-5 visits over a couple of months.

so sent in the ESA form and sick notes

We had to submit 36weeks of sick notes, they lost 4 so Doctor not best pleased having to duplicate. In the end I had to drive to Job Centre to get them to email and internal mail [they knew all about DWP incompentce]

next step a Medical with a doctor

you medical starts as soon as you get in the car to go there!

how did you get here?
so it took you 1hour, did you stop? no {aah I see you can only sit in the chair in my office for 10mins but can stay in a car seat for 60min} [thinking.....humm pulling my chain!]

my wife could not do pretty much any of the actions required, so the doctor finished the examination relatively quickly. [full examination in the premium service listed above]

so EVEN with Doctors reports,36weeks of sick notes and Consultant letters she has been placed in the WORK group [95% are][5% do not do medicals at all ie terminal illness etc]

Then asked to attend Pathways to work interview. LOL
This is all down to the LAW, the disabilty act to be precise, there is money to be made by placing disabled people in work. [you must attend 5 of these although if unwell you can phone in and refer the meeting forward]

Then you have the positive biased fit for work interview by another doctor, they are looking for physical improvments that can be made to your condition and assess your capability for work. Ours was real short about 20mins.
Doctor looked up in the air when my wife hobbled in took 5 mins to seat her comfortably.

Outcome

ESA work group
4 more work placements to go.

Hope this helps somebody, biggest thing is keep calm.

The above Premium service also has a forum for ESA with VERY detailed content on the whole process, definitely worth a look.

Regards

D

atrixblue.-MFR-.

BeenThroughIt wrote: »

My wife is incapacitated so we both cannot work, I care for her.

so applied for ESA

Massive set of forms comes through the post runs to some 50pages

Phone a charity like A4U who help to fill out these types of forms

also check out benefitsandwork[.co.uk] they provide a lot of info for free and also reasonably cheap premium services. I recommend these.

You must be seeing the ONE doctor regularly otherwise you will FAIL at the first hurdle most doctors only see patients very infrequently and WILL fill out the forms conservatively unless you know them reasonably well 4-5 visits over a couple of months.

so sent in the ESA form and sick notes

We had to submit 36weeks of sick notes, they lost 4 so Doctor not best pleased having to duplicate. In the end I had to drive to Job Centre to get them to email and internal mail [they knew all about DWP incompentce]

next step a Medical with a doctor

you medical starts as soon as you get in the car to go there!

how did you get here?
so it took you 1hour, did you stop? no {aah I see you can only sit in the chair in my office for 10mins but can stay in a car seat for 60min} [thinking.....humm pulling my chain!]

my wife could not do pretty much any of the actions required, so the doctor finished the examination relatively quickly. [full examination in the premium service listed above]

so EVEN with Doctors reports,36weeks of sick notes and Consultant letters she has been placed in the WORK group [95% are][5% do not do medicals at all ie terminal illness etc]

Then asked to attend Pathways to work interview. LOL
This is all down to the LAW, the disabilty act to be precise, there is money to be made by placing disabled people in work. [you must attend 5 of these although if unwell you can phone in and refer the meeting forward]

Then you have the positive biased fit for work interview by another doctor, they are looking for physical improvments that can be made to your condition and assess your capability for work. Ours was real short about 20mins.
Doctor looked up in the air when my wife hobbled in took 5 mins to seat her comfortably.

Outcome

ESA work group
4 more work placements to go.

Hope this helps somebody, biggest thing is keep calm.

The above Premium service also has a forum for ESA with VERY detailed content on the whole process, definitely worth a look.

Regards

D

yes the medical starts as sopon as you step foot in the centre, but you can also request a home visit via a letter from your gp supporting you and your wife that your too ill to go to them.

i have been registered with my doctor since birth, my doctor has not changed and only see locums when he is off, he attends the GP out of hours service as well and has seen to me at my emergency appointments, attended ny home in the past when ive been ill and been admitted by him i see him regularly on a 4 weekly basis, i see my consultant on a 4 monthly basis, and now my doctor has put an emergengy refural in to a phsyciatric consultant so i will be attending that regularly also.

i dont claim esa i claim income support/incopacity NI contributions
so if i fail i'll have to appeal my case and take a reduced rate benefit till the decision is overturned if it came to it.

i know the assesment doctor doesnt make the decision they just collect the info for the DWP decision makers who then decide your future on benefits. i have had vast experince with dwp over the years and i do try and give as much usefull info to those who need it on here.

trouble is you give the advice and the poster goes away not comeing back to update us if things went ok, and theres allot of horror stories on here about ATOS medicals and not many of a good turn out, i posted my wierd experience as a glimmer of hope that not all assessments are bad, i will be posting back to update everyone on the decision of the assessment, when i get the letter of hopefully good new that i passed.

shoetoyou

healy wrote: »

Although it clearly is not easy to pass the medical for ESA this forum is always going have many more people with negative experiences because they come here for help. Those that are successful and have good experiences are much less likely to post.

Hi I had my second medical in may 2009! After reading the outcome (Which anyone can request) I do not have to attend for 3 years for a other medical!! In this climate I do not think it will take that long!

Molly41

I recently had to fill in ESA50 again (less than a year since last one completed. Took less than a week to get a result - still in Support Group for another two years. I was impressed tbh. Expected medicals and weeks of waiting like last-time. Mind you I sent four recent letters from consultants which might have helped. Such a relief.