ESA Medical - here we go again!

melbi_uk

my clothes will be clean and ironed as my daughter does that for me. Mine is more personal hygiene. On the day of my assessment I know I'm going to be very anxious, could even end up having an anxiety attack. I may manage a shower or a bath that day but if I am anything like I am at the moment then I'm afraid they will get me as I am because I won't be capable of washing my hair, then drying it to make it look 'nice'.

I quite often look in the mirror and scare myself!

All I want is to be better!

Hippeechiq

Hi everyone

I have to attend an ESA medical with my daugther this coming Monday. She suffers from the mental illness Borderline Personality Disorder accompanied by depression, and we have just had 2 years, and are still in the middle of, hell.

I've already been coping with the fall-out from the impending appointment all week - and I am dreading the day itself and the fall-out after the appointment, as the whole thing will be a tremendous ordeal for her.

I'm unsure of my "part" in the medical. I have already obtained a letter from her Psychiatrist saying how ill she is and how her illness affects her ability to work (hell, it affects her ability to live!) and I have a list of all her medications and will also take them with us, and obviously I will go in with her, but should I then just watch and listen while she is questioned? and allow her to answer, or should I actually join in?

She's muddled at best. On her worst days, her illness traumatises her to such a degree that she can't even speak, and she's going to be totally freaked out, anxious, panicky and possibly even aggressive on the day, so I will have to give her some Diazepam (on top of her usual medicine) just to enable me to get her there, and it worries me that she's not going to be able to answer the questions.

I'm a bit shot to pieces myself to be honest, as I'm her sole carer (her Dad (my ex-husband) lives 250 miles away) and I have had to fight long and hard to get her correctly diagnosed and treated, whilst also watching this awful illness consume her, and coping with all that that involves, and I'm just afraid - because of my own fragile state - that I'm going to forget to do or say something vitally important.

I'm no shrinking violet, but I do get very flustered because due to the amount of stress I'm constantly under, I find it very difficult to concentrate and remember things lately.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

melbi_uk

I really do feel for you x

I too have mine this Monday. It is the other way round though. My daughter will be coming in with me.

She is strong willed - I'm weak :-(

I dare say she will do all the talking - if I manage to talk, she will butt in.

I wish you all the luck in the world x

FTW

healy wrote: »

The DWP do not write back refusing to take an appeal further - they would write back saying that a reconsideration had been turned down.

Which they always do.

healy wrote: »

The DWP would not say that appealing against a decision to deny benefit following a medical was frivolous.

I didn't say that it would - I said 'whether it would'.

healy wrote: »

There is a lot of rubbish being written on this thread and people would be sensible to ignore it.

Do you mean the dressing down stuff, or something else?

Because it's common knowledge that the way the person is dressed is mentioned in the report, and if the person looks reasonably presentable, it goes against that person - it's used as a 'catch out'.



Also, I'd suggest secretly audio-recording the assessment without telling Atos (decent mobile in a shirt pocket would do the job).

The patient does have the right to do this, and if the report that's drawn up turns out to be riddled with inaccuracies (and there's every possibility of that!), then the patient will have a much stronger case for contesting that report.

I've done this myself, and thanks largely to that, reversed the verdict at my own appeal some months ago.

FTW

melbi_uk wrote: »

my clothes will be clean and ironed as my daughter does that for me. Mine is more personal hygiene. On the day of my assessment I know I'm going to be very anxious, could even end up having an anxiety attack. I may manage a shower or a bath that day but if I am anything like I am at the moment then I'm afraid they will get me as I am because I won't be capable of washing my hair, then drying it to make it look 'nice'.

I quite often look in the mirror and scare myself!

All I want is to be better!

If you have a mobile or a recording device, take it with you and set it away before the assessment begins.

That way, if a dishonest report does get drawn up that's gets you 'booted off', you'll be in a much better position to appeal it.

I'm not saying that a dishonest report will be drawn up - you might be lucky enough to get an honest doctor (I saw two, and neither of them were, though).

All I'm saying is that it's best to be prepared just in case.

FTW

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Hi everyone

I have to attend an ESA medical with my daugther this coming Monday. She suffers from the mental illness Borderline Personality Disorder accompanied by depression, and we have just had 2 years, and are still in the middle of, hell.

I've already been coping with the fall-out from the impending appointment all week - and I am dreading the day itself and the fall-out after the appointment, as the whole thing will be a tremendous ordeal for her.

I'm unsure of my "part" in the medical. I have already obtained a letter from her Psychiatrist saying how ill she is and how her illness affects her ability to work (hell, it affects her ability to live!) and I have a list of all her medications and will also take them with us, and obviously I will go in with her, but should I then just watch and listen while she is questioned? and allow her to answer, or should I actually join in?

She's muddled at best. On her worst days, her illness traumatises her to such a degree that she can't even speak, and she's going to be totally freaked out, anxious, panicky and possibly even aggressive on the day, so I will have to give her some Diazepam (on top of her usual medicine) just to enable me to get her there, and it worries me that she's not going to be able to answer the questions.

I'm a bit shot to pieces myself to be honest, as I'm her sole carer (her Dad (my ex-husband) lives 250 miles away) and I have had to fight long and hard to get her correctly diagnosed and treated, whilst also watching this awful illness consume her, and coping with all that that involves, and I'm just afraid - because of my own fragile state - that I'm going to forget to do or say something vitally important.

I'm no shrinking violet, but I do get very flustered because due to the amount of stress I'm constantly under, I find it very difficult to concentrate and remember things lately.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Again, try the recording option. That'll help immeasurably if you need to appeal.

And if you do appeal, you'll need to amass as much medical evidence as possible from doctors, specialists, whoever applies.

allen35

Surely there's a duty to inform the person you are recording.

melbi_uk

FTW wrote: »

If you have a mobile or a recording device, take it with you and set it away before the assessment begins.

That way, if a dishonest report does get drawn up that's gets you 'booted off', you'll be in a much better position to appeal it.

I'm not saying that a dishonest report will be drawn up - you might be lucky enough to get an honest doctor (I saw two, and neither of them were, though).

All I'm saying is that it's best to be prepared just in case.

I'll try and do that, or my daughter will. She says she is going to take notes. Will they be of use?

healy

FTW wrote: »

Which they always do.



I didn't say that it would - I said 'whether it would'.



Do you mean the dressing down stuff, or something else?

Because it's common knowledge that the way the person is dressed is mentioned in the report, and if the person looks reasonably presentable, it goes against that person - it's used as a 'catch out'.


Also, I'd suggest secretly audio-recording the assessment without telling Atos (decent mobile in a shirt pocket would do the job).

The patient does have the right to do this, and if the report that's drawn up turns out to be riddled with inaccuracies (and there's every possibility of that!), then the patient will have a much stronger case for contesting that report.

I've done this myself, and thanks largely to that, reversed the verdict at my own appeal some months ago.

I stand by what I have said, the DWP do not refuse to take an appeal further after a reconsideration - people have the option to appeal to a tribunal. Also not all reconsiderations are turned down.

I cannot be bothered to reply to the rest of your post as you are clearly paranoid.

deeplyblue

healy wrote: »

The DWP do not write back refusing to take an appeal further - they would write back saying that a reconsideration had been turned down.

The DWP would not say that appealing against a decision to deny benefit following a medical was frivolous.

There is a lot of rubbish being written on this thread and people would be sensible to ignore it.

I agree entirely with your first point.

On the matter of "frivolous" appeals: the DWP might not put it in so many words. However, I'm sure that they feel that some claimants are going to appeal, even though they know there is only a very small chance of success in order to keep themselves within the ESA "process" and perhaps delay the inevitable moment when they have to go on to JSA. It is not the whole process to which the word is being applied, just that some appeals are made on trivial grounds, with little chance of success and such appeals do get described by some people as "frivolous".

The new process of "reconsideration" which the DWP has been trialling does include a provision for the DWP to try to get rid of the sort of appeals which get labelled "frivolous":

In exceptional cases, if the decision maker feels that the appeal has no reasonable prospect of success, they may apply for a direction under the provisions of the Tribunals Procedure (First Tier Tribunal) (Social Entitlement) Rules 2008.

http://www.appeals-service.gov.uk/Documents/ReconsiderationPilot2_25Feb11.pdf

As for the "rubbish" - which bits you have in mind I don't know, but if you feel that the DWP is just a government department running a process which is intended to be fair and simply aimed at getting the right result according to the rules, then I would urge you to look again at the evidence.

On the question of how you dress, I believe that is one of the things which the ATOS "disability assessor" is instructed to notice. What they make of that piece of evidence is harder to say. If you are claiming on the grounds of acute depression making everyday life difficult, then being smart, clean, well-presented and articulate can get the ATOS HCP writing down that you didn't seem to have any problems.

Suppose, OTOH, you are claiming on the grounds of ME, and say that you have great problems getting dressed. If you turn up smartly dressed, then the HCP may decide that there is no evidence of difficulty. Alternatively if you turn up scruffy and looking like you don't care, then an HCP may say that you are clearly just depressed and with a course of SSRIs would be back at work.

This is why I recommend a middle course. Put on clothes which are clean and decent, don't bother with a tie, but don't use jeans and a smelly old sweatshirt either.

You don't know which set of prejudices your particular ATOS HCP will have - everyone has some. Maybe they hate "hoodies", or maybe they hate "suits".

Some will get you either way. I came across this back in the day when medics usually visited the claimant at home. Try leaving a room in its usual state and the doctor will take this as evidence that you are one of those who just "can't be bothered". Have someone tidy the room up and that's evidence that you have enough energy to put lots of videos on to shelves.

From the evidence I've read, I'd say the most important thing is to keep a record of the interview, and a list of things you wanted to talk about. For the rest keep your powder dry for the appeal.