ATOS medical booked.... what next???

sonorman

Hastobe_Katt wrote: »

Remember disability benefits are not awarded on the basis of your actual physical condition but on how it affects you. Those who are brave, cope and struggle on get diddly squat. Those who deserve an Oscar, win the day...

I just have to say that I agree with you. Many I know personally visit the GP to keep up the 'medical history'. One even 'loses' all of the cars when the DWP/ATOS/Welfare Rights advisor comes round!

Then you have the little old lady crippled with Arthritis that doesn't bother to see the GP as in her words 'they are too busy dealing with people who are worse than me'. Does her claim for Attendance Allowance pass muster - NO! She tried it twice, but twice it was knocked back because of no medical history.

Where is the fairness in that?

cit_k

sonorman wrote: »

I just have to say that I agree with you. Many I know personally visit the GP to keep up the 'medical history'. One even 'loses' all of the cars when the DWP/ATOS/Welfare Rights advisor comes round!

Then you have the little old lady crippled with Arthritis that doesn't bother to see the GP as in her words 'they are too busy dealing with people who are worse than me'. Does her claim for Attendance Allowance pass muster - NO! She tried it twice, but twice it was knocked back because of no medical history.

Where is the fairness in that?

She should appeal, the tribunal can be willing to understand that people do not keep their medical visits up to date for various reasons.

I had to appeal once due to that - and won, as I was not visiting the GP due to mental health issues.

sonorman

cit_k wrote: »

She should appeal, the tribunal can be willing to understand that people do not keep their medical visits up to date for various reasons.

I had to appeal once due to that - and won, as I was not visiting the GP due to mental health issues.

The time for appealing has long gone.

The experience she has told me, of not being believed, has rocked her self belief and wont entertain another claim. Sad I know, but what right have I got to ask her to do something that she does not now believe in.

Hastobe_Katt

The same thing happened to my mum.

My mum has severe arthritis in hips and spine. (Replacement joints were not an option as she had deformities of in both her femurs due to childhood rickets. The bones were twisted so the shaft of the replacement hip couldn't be fitted properly). At the time, she was also undergoing treatment for breast cancer and was waiting a triple bypass and heart valve replacement. My dad is her main carer and had to take early retirement to look after her. When I say early retirement - he didn't qualify for his state pension as he wasn't old enough, instead they lived off savings...£50 a week for nearly five years. Both have always worked and neither had claimed any benefits before.

Not long after he finished work to look after her, my father also became ill and needed major surgery (replacement aorta). It was during this time that we tried to persuade my mum to claim DLA.

My mum's 'doctor' visit was horrendous. He insisted she walk up and down stairs (she was instructed absolutely not to do this by both her consultants; it takes her an age and she has a stair lift anyway - that they paid for themselves!!) She was rushed to hospital with a cardiac arrest within 2 hours of the 'doctor' leaving.

When the letter came through she had been turned down. She vowed she would starve rather than apply for benefits again. This was five years ago and she will not entertain another try - even though she is now pretty much bed ridden (her hips are now so bad that they dislocate if she moves).

IMHO the benefits agencies work from the assumption that all applicants are persistent scroungers. A a result disability benefits rarely go to those who really need them.

rogerblack

Hastobe_Katt wrote: »

Remember disability benefits are not awarded on the basis of your actual physical condition but on how it affects you. Those who are brave, cope and struggle on get diddly squat. Those who deserve an Oscar, win the day...

It's not actually supposed to be this way - at least in the case of some benefits.

To paraphrase the DLA guidance.
'The test is the ability to walk without severe discomfort. Any ability to walk with severe discomfort should be discounted'.

However - I regrettably agree that someone that turns up bright-eyed, after driving in, and says they are having a good day, even though they can rarely drive is unlikely to get much.

sonorman

Hastobe_Katt wrote: »

The same thing happened to my mum.

My mum has severe arthritis in hips and spine. (Replacement joints were not an option as she had deformities of in both her femurs due to childhood rickets. The bones were twisted so the shaft of the replacement hip couldn't be fitted properly). At the time, she was also undergoing treatment for breast cancer and was waiting a triple bypass and heart valve replacement. My dad is her main carer and had to take early retirement to look after her. When I say early retirement - he didn't qualify for his state pension as he wasn't old enough, instead they lived off savings...£50 a week for nearly five years. Both have always worked and neither had claimed any benefits before.

Not long after he finished work to look after her, my father also became ill and needed major surgery (replacement aorta). It was during this time that we tried to persuade my mum to claim DLA.

My mum's 'doctor' visit was horrendous. He insisted she walk up and down stairs (she was instructed absolutely not to do this by both her consultants; it takes her an age and she has a stair lift anyway - that they paid for themselves!!) She was rushed to hospital with a cardiac arrest within 2 hours of the 'doctor' leaving.

When the letter came through she had been turned down. She vowed she would starve rather than apply for benefits again. This was five years ago and she will not entertain another try - even though she is now pretty much bed ridden (her hips are now so bad that they dislocate if she moves).

IMHO the benefits agencies work from the assumption that all applicants are persistent scroungers. A a result disability benefits rarely go to those who really need them.

I am so sorry to hear that. But yes I know what you mean. It is so unfair that some people go to extreme lengths to get a disability benefit. They tout around trying to find someone that will fill in the form for them in the hope that they know how to phrase the answers.
Yet those that go alone who have genuine needs get nowhere.

Yes it does feel like they just don't believe the claimant. I wish it would change, but quite a lot of people who really don't deserve the financial help, see DLA & AA as a bit extra to go into the pot so that they can have a better lifestyle.