atos cancelled medical now letter asking why did not attend

cit_k

amus wrote: »

Just send it back in the envelope provided stating what you have stated on here.

So your advice is not to complain?
Not to try to raise the standards for others, by bringing a serious failure to the attention of those tasked with investigating such failures?

Not to make those responsible liable for their actions, and to allow no re-training or corrective actions to take place?

Just to put up with an appalling level of service?

cp7

hi, i think cit_k is absolutely correct, these atos personnel are either not trained properly or covering up and my sister will write a letter of complaint (well i'll do it for her). if vulnerable people are being hit with shoddy service then it has to be flagged up, not for the compensation but for the system inefficiencies and affect it has on benefit claimants.

i'll come back with their response.

regards

WhiteHorse

Never send originals to them, they have a tendency to 'accidentally' get lost.

They don't keep records of correspondence? Get them to put that one in writing, then complain to ICO that they are not managing their data properly.

rogerblack

bobajob_1966 wrote: »

The letter you received is computer generated. Whilst there is obviously some human interaction in the process, there is far less cross referencing than you seem to think.

The letter being computer generated makes it _less_ acceptable, not more.
It's pretty trivial to set it up so it's simply impossible for it to generate letters with appointments in that are under 7 days in the future.

cp7

i called jcp last wed asking for an update for my sister. i was advised as she had a letter canc the medical because of further evidence being received she would be put into the support group of esa. this was after explaining the letter may have been a mistake.

yesterday a letter from jcp arrived stating 'your reasons for not attending the medical have been accepted on this occasion and you will receive another appointment. you should make every effort to attend otherwise your benefit will stop'.

i particularly like the bit 'on this occasion' as if the reasons were her choice.

the letter goes on - if your incapacity prevents you leaving home and this is the reason you cannot attend etc to get a letter from gp.

she wanted to attend, was ready to attend but they make it sound as if she cancelled it.:mad:

what a waste of time and money and i thought they were cost cutting. disgraceful

cp7

hi folks, can't believe this happened again only this time my sister actually attended. I arranged to take her and when we got there, 15 miles away, she was advised after waiting 15 mins that someone had tried to call her to say they were busy today!

It appears they called within 45mins of the scheduled time of appointment, we had already left and they never left a message anyway nor was there a number to return call, therefore we wouldn't have known who called. totally out of order.

My sister is livid as am I.:mad: She's to go through all this again. I explained this was the second time but she said as my sister didn't turn up the first time this was the first referral!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I advised her about the last time but she wasn't interested.

Something needs to be done about atos immediately.

cp7

hi folks, this is an update to inform anyone what problems could lie ahead for some and to get some advice. my sis eventually had a medical at end of dec. doc was polite but disinterested and he said things on his report that weren't true, anyway she was awarded zero points and is now making appeal.

i complained to dwp/atos on her behalf about all the hassle but they don't give compensation anyway. one letter from atos stated that they had received medical evidence from her gp but it was still decided she needed to attend a medical. after the zero point award she asked for a copy of this evidence (well i did to several different people). kept being fobbed off about it and passed from one to another.

she eventually received a letter today stating they wrote to her doctor but the questionairre was returned unanswered. it was in fact sent to the wrong doctor, not even one in her practice, not even in the area where she lives. she provided details of her current doctor on her esa50 form.

what should she do now as this is just unbelievable, how can they base a claim on evidence received when they wrote to wrong doctor and got no evidence? they didn't check against her esa50.

thanks for any advice.

Muttleythefrog

cp7 wrote: »

hi folks, this is an update to inform anyone what problems could lie ahead for some and to get some advice. my sis eventually had a medical at end of dec. doc was polite but disinterested and he said things on his report that weren't true, anyway she was awarded zero points and is now making appeal.

i complained to dwp/atos on her behalf about all the hassle but they don't give compensation anyway. one letter from atos stated that they had received medical evidence from her gp but it was still decided she needed to attend a medical. after the zero point award she asked for a copy of this evidence (well i did to several different people). kept being fobbed off about it and passed from one to another.

she eventually received a letter today stating they wrote to her doctor but the questionairre was returned unanswered. it was in fact sent to the wrong doctor, not even one in her practice, not even in the area where she lives. she provided details of her current doctor on her esa50 form.

what should she do now as this is just unbelievable, how can they base a claim on evidence received when they wrote to wrong doctor and got no evidence? they didn't check against her esa50.

thanks for any advice.

Ouch. They must have supplied an ESA113 form (www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa113-interactive.pdf)... I believe ATOS have sent one to my doctor... I have requested copy (after convincing the agent on the phone such a thing existed) and still await it. But ATOS gave very little time for it to be completed and returned... so don't know if my part time GP managed it or even if another GP completed it.

What the DWP will argue is that the ESA50 form and ATOS medical report (ESA85) are sufficient evidence for them to take decision and in many cases it will be the only evidence used. They live or die by that and ATOS medical reports can be fatally holed beneath the waterline at appeals.

Make sure you do have copy of all the evidence they've used for decision and make sure the appeal focusses on the descriptors you think relevant in her case and that deadline isn't missed for requesting appeal. Getting supporting medical evidence could be invaluable... as closely supportive of the various descriptors the better.

The DWP will carry out automatic reconsideration before sending papers off to tribunals service should they not change decision. So you could still get evidence in for the reconsideration stage.

Regarding complaint... many would advise targetting the ATOS HCPs registration/regulation body with complaint about them...such as GMC for G.P.

Good luck!

cp7

hi thanks for reply and advice. i will check out the atos gov body etc.

the reason my sis hasn't got any evidence from her gp was because atos/dwp said they had requested it. her doc has since said it will cost about 60 - 80.

i went with her to cab and she was advised by the manager of cab that as she was going from is to esa there was a quirk in the system and it would go directly to appeal and not to the reconsideration stage. then she rec'd a letter from dwp saying they had her appeal form and they would look at the decision again and to send in any further evidence for consideration!

it goes on and on and its all i seem to do these days is sort out her probs. feel so sorry for vulnerable people who have no support.

the dwp stopped her benefit immediately although her bills didn't. her housing benefit and council tax benefit stopped also. she is not fit to work, has a doctors sicknote saying so yet it seems no one read her esa50 form and the atos guy has mostly written a completely different report to what was said or done at the interview. :mad:

regards

Muttleythefrog

cp7 wrote: »

hi thanks for reply and advice. i will check out the atos gov body etc. Not ATOS but the healthcare professional's regulatory body... you'll have to find out what profession they are and therefore that body. You can of course complain to ATOS and DWP and some people have some success.. but priority may be regarding efforts of appeal. Complaints I suppose can 'wait for another day'.

the reason my sis hasn't got any evidence from her gp was because atos/dwp said they had requested it. her doc has since said it will cost about 60 - 80.
Might be worth it if it is good evidence (specific in relation to the descriptor areas in the WCA) but obviously it is a cost.

i went with her to cab and she was advised by the manager of cab that as she was going from is to esa there was a quirk in the system and it would go directly to appeal and not to the reconsideration stage. then she rec'd a letter from dwp saying they had her appeal form and they would look at the decision again and to send in any further evidence for consideration!
Hmm I've not heard about this quirk... but CAB have the experts and I'm not one. I would say though that in light of response from DWP the CAB might be wrong.

it goes on and on and its all i seem to do these days is sort out her probs. feel so sorry for vulnerable people who have no support.
Unfortunately the complexity and demands on the claimant I feel are prohibitive... they're among the least capable in society by definition regarding getting their entitlements.

the dwp stopped her benefit immediately although her bills didn't. her housing benefit and council tax benefit stopped also. she is not fit to work, has a doctors sicknote saying so yet it seems no one read her esa50 form and the atos guy has mostly written a completely different report to what was said or done at the interview. :mad:
The ESA50 form may well largely be ignored in favour of independent evidence... unfortunately that means DWP probably ignored the claimed problems and rubber stamped ATOS report. The experience at ATOS medical that you report is sadly very common. But it can be overcome. Many scoring zero points win appeal. While she is appealing she should be able to get ESA at assessment rate with supply of sicknotes to cover her. CAB should have informed her of this. Also regarding the other benefits.. contact local authority ASAP to tell them you'll be appealing the ESA decision and expect to be restored to it shortly. She should be able to claim both benefits (HB/CTB) based on her low/zero income in the meantime assuming she qualifies... pursue that ASAP. Unfortunately this is a massive inconvenience many suffer.... the local authority I understand gets tipped off straightaway that the qualifying benefit has ceased... so they stop the benefits that otherwise the claimant probably is still entitled to.

regards

My comments in bold.

Good luck!