On ESA had my atos examination today

Anubis_2

It has been taken off people who are failing their medical and classed fit for work. If you have disabilities, you claim ESA, not JSA, and yes, you can still work on ESA and DLA but your disabilities are recognised.

On JSA you are classed not disabled as being fully fit for work, not sick or needing medical attention, and people have had their DLA stopped when they have lost ESA and had to go on JSA.

They are seeing it as that you are 100 percent fit, have no medical needs, if you are taken off ESA and have to go on JSA......therefore, DLA are informed of the outcome of ESA being stopped, and then DLA is stopped. There are many on various disability boards this has happened to.

Here, see this, your DLA is at risk
http://www.benefitanswers.co.uk/Latest-Benefit-News/your-dla-is-at-risk.html.

The Government have said, if new evidence comes to light under ESA medical then DLA is at risk and may be stopped. Therefore, if Atos put you can walk etc, then you fail your medical, Atos inform DLA who can and do stop payments. It has happened to people!

cit_k

Why dont they just suspend the HB claim and simply allow 1 month for it to be instantly re-instated the moment you put in a ESA appeal?

Instead of stopping it and forcing the claimaint to fill in all the forms, resubmit all evidence etc, it must cost a fortune in admin and paperwork.

All could be avoided by simple common sense moves.

iluvmarmite

It states in the link Anubis provided that you can get 15 points in an ATOS medical yet they can tell DLA you are able to walk 20ms I think it was, so your DLA could be in danger.

I thought the points you needed to pass the ATOS medical and claim ESA was 15 so how can they give you the max amount of points needed then put your DLA in danger? Its wrong as you could be claiming ESA and told you are not fit for work yet because of something they tell DLA you could lose that and be told you are fit for work!!!

cit_k

When atos does a report for an employee, and finds them unfit for work, then that employee gets a atos report from the DWP, which finds them FIT for work, people say its because the two reports are for different things, so can be compared.

Well, ESA and DLA are for different things, so how come they can evidence from one for the other, and NOT use evidence saying your unfit for work from the same company?

NASA_2

Denisthemenice wrote: »

Hi, I had my atos examination today, I have 2 prolapsed discs and I'm currently awaiting surgery, I can hardly walk (with crutches) and I'm on very high doses of morphine. In my examination the atos examiner looked at my medication, letters proving my condition and that I am awaiting surgery, he asked if I had any hobbies, which I answered fishing, which I currently can not do, he asked what I do all day, I said nothing because of all the pain I'm in, he then asked do you brush your teeth???? I said yes, and that was my examination over took about 15-20 minutes, I've read on anuther forum the longer your seen the better, so is the time I was In there bad? He asked nothing about walking, bending over or getting up steps? It was almost like he had made his mind up before he had even seen me? :cool:

How much detail did you put in your ESA50?

Did you say you were unable to do everything listed in every category?

Muttleythefrog

cit_k wrote: »

When atos does a report for an employee, and finds them unfit for work, then that employee gets a atos report from the DWP, which finds them FIT for work, people say its because the two reports are for different things, so can be compared.

Well, ESA and DLA are for different things, so how come they can evidence from one for the other, and NOT use evidence saying your unfit for work from the same company?

When I look to sorting out my DLA nightmare I may try it in reverse. ESA medical says I would pose a significant risk to others if not found to have limited capacity for work... yet for DLA they say I pose no risk to myself or others. Presumably someone who would pose a significant risk to others in a work related environment is going to pose a significant risk to others in other environments. We'll see..lol

Denisthemenice

NASA wrote: »

How much detail did you put in your ESA50?

Did you say you were unable to do everything listed in every category?

Hi NASA, I just told the truth, I never filled in separate sheets of paper or anything (I just used the space on the forms) so personally I don't think I put much detail at all, I actually filled them in as quickly as possable and sent them off, I also don't recall saying I couldn't do everything.

CountryGuy

I didn't add any extra information what so ever.

It took them just under 12 months to invite me for a wca. I passed (placed in support group) and that was it!

I received a letter stating I'd receive a cold weather thingy of £10 in December????????

Mine is CB so not sure why they say I'll receive that.

I haven't tried to claim DLA despite being advised to do so as my oh and daughter care for me between themselves as oh works 3 different shifts and daughter gets 3 days a week off. In fact, I am better when they are not around as I really struggle interacting even with close family.

I prefer to be left alone completely.

I seriously think it all depends in which area a person lives as to how they are treated in a wca.

NASA_2

Denisthemenice wrote: »

Hi NASA, I just told the truth, I never filled in separate sheets of paper or anything (I just used the space on the forms) so personally I don't think I put much detail at all, I actually filled them in as quickly as possable and sent them off, I also don't recall saying I couldn't do everything.

That will usually be why the HCP take a short time to do the interview.

They use the ESA50 as part of the basis for the assessment. If the person they are seeing has reported next to no issues on the ESA50 there is little need for them to go through every possible question ie. if someone claims with a broken leg there is no point asking them if they can hold a pint of milk.

DanielClark

a friend of mine was dragged up in front of one of these assessments a few days ago, he asked me to go with him as moral support. it seemed to be a pretty stressful thing for him, and he got quite agitated. the "doctor" (for the want of a better word(I don't know what this mans qualficiations were)) then seemed to take the agitation and anxiety and turn it into some sort of act of rudeness, at which both my friend and myself were taken aback.

one of the tests he was asked to take was a peak flow test for his asthma. seeing that he's been monitoring his peak flow for a few years now, he is aware of what his normal range is (about 500). on the day of the examination, he did his peak flow and I was told he had recorded it at around 490. at the examination, he was asked to perform the test again, this time with a different model of peak flow meter, but with the same number scale, and BOOM! out of nowhere, he scored over 650.

I saw the look of surprise on his face, but I didn't know what the problem was.

he queried the test result, and the "doctor" sat upright in his chair, gave him a cold hard stare and asked in a rather blunt manner "what are you insinuating???!!!", to which my friend repsonded that he wasn't insinuating, or implying anything. he just can't understand how he can go from an average of 500, then have it jump up to 650 just like that. the doc just shrugged his shoulders and said that the meter showed the result correctly, and that was what he was going to enter into the computer.

when we got home, my friend took the test again on his own peak flow meter, and it was back to about 500, maybe a little more. definitely nowhere near 650.

might be a bit of good advice for any asthmatics going to one of these things to take your own peak flow meters, or anything like that if you use them, from what I witnessed, I think there is something highly dubious going on with the equipment ATOS use.