ESA medical cut short

doelani

Had my medical this morning and after 10 minutes the doctor said he had to leave the room to make a telephone call . He returned and said medical was finished as he was placing me directly onto support group due to one of my problems. He said he had left to speak to another doctor to get his agreement as he could not make the decision on his own . He said not to worry as it will be at least a year enforce they contact my doctor and I may be calls again then for a medical then .

Has anyone heard of this happening before ? I am just dubious until I get word from ESA themselves.

rogerblack

He cannot make that decision, only the DWP can, he should not have said that.
However.
It is general procedure that they leave the room, to consult with a superior, if they feel the claimant may fall into the support group category.
Clearly, in your case, the person they called agreed, and they have recommended you are placed in the support group.

In principle, the DWP can take other evidence into account, and not award you the support group, which is why he shouldn't have said it.

But, this is going to be really rare.

doelani

rogerblack wrote: »

He cannot make that decision, only the DWP can, he should not have said that.
However.
It is general procedure that they leave the room, to consult with a superior, if they feel the claimant may fall into the support group category.
Clearly, in your case, the person they called agreed, and they have recommended you are placed in the support group.

In principle, the DWP can take other evidence into account, and not award you the support group, which is why he shouldn't have said it.

But, this is going to be really rare.

I did query how he could say that as I know it had to go to DWP decision maker but he said that's why he spoke to someone else . He did not even do a physical examination and he never asked about other problems . He said there are a few illnesses that take you straight to support group and seems I have one . Will wait and see when I get letter .

Muttleythefrog

doelani wrote: »

I did query how he could say that as I know it had to go to DWP decision maker but he said that's why he spoke to someone else . He did not even do a physical examination and he never asked about other problems . He said there are a few illnesses that take you straight to support group and seems I have one . Will wait and see when I get letter .

Concur with Roger above.. and seem to see this quite a bit whereby the ATOS HCP seems to infer they have power of decision. The decision rests with a DWP decision maker. However, there is every chance they'll simply rubber stamp the advice of this HCP. Curtailment seems to have applied here as Support Group criteria was found to be met.

I strongly advise that in a couple of days you call the DWP and ask for a copy of the HCP's report... the ATOS HC medical report ESA85 which could be interesting and useful in future. It may be some weeks before the DWP take their decision. And even then you may not get a letter... or if you do it may not seem clear... DWP admin is appalling regarding ESA. But ultimately keep watch of your bank account... that often can be indicator decision has been taken...lol.

doelani

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

Concur with Roger above.. and seem to see this quite a bit whereby the ATOS HCP seems to infer they have power of decision. The decision rests with a DWP decision maker. However, there is every chance they'll simply rubber stamp the advice of this HCP. Curtailment seems to have applied here as Support Group criteria was found to be met.

I strongly advise that in a couple of days you call the DWP and ask for a copy of the HCP's report... the ATOS HC medical report ESA85 which could be interesting and useful in future. It may be some weeks before the DWP take their decision. And even then you may not get a letter... or if you do it may not seem clear... DWP admin is appalling regarding ESA. But ultimately keep watch of your bank account... that often can be indicator decision has been taken...lol.

Will ring them next week, the thing that worrys me is I have 5 medical problems, dr had only started to ask about how long I had each and how often was effected me when he left the room, this was 3rd illness/condition he asked about. He never asked anything about the ther illnesses so if dwp do not accept his decision how can they make any decision when full medical was not done ?. He said at start he was going to examine me and check blood pressure etc and ask me about a "typical day " but again none of this was done. I really do not want to have to go through tthis all again .

Muttleythefrog

doelani wrote: »

Will ring them next week, the thing that worrys me is I have 5 medical problems, dr had only started to ask about how long I had each and how often was effected me when he left the room, this was 3rd illness/condition he asked about. He never asked anything about the ther illnesses so if dwp do not accept his decision how can they make any decision when full medical was not done ?. He said at start he was going to examine me and check blood pressure etc and ask me about a "typical day " but again none of this was done. I really do not want to have to go through tthis all again .

I wouldn't worry. The DWP will almost certainly accept the advice... either exceptional circumstances have been found to apply or standard support group criteria. WHen he says "there are a few illnesses that take you straight to support group and seems I have one" it suggests exceptional circumstances may well have been found to apply... non functional descriptor. Without more details regarding your health problem number 3 it's hard to tell but the medical report will shed light... it should also give a prognosis which will indicate likely timing of next assessment (that may or may not include a face to face medical) if applicable. But I wouldn't worry if I were you... it's highly likely the DWP will 'rubber stamp' the ATOS report and would be extremely unlikely they'd reject it and order another face to face medical.

minimadtrix

Hubby had a similar appointment with the doctor. It would appear that he has one of the conditions that meets the 15 point rule. The doctor didn't speak to him about his, what we thought, main problems. He obviously picked out the one that might get the 15 points first, after about 10 mins went to make a phone call and came back with the same response - he had consulted with his superior and they both agree there was no need to continue with the appointment. He suggested that this did not mean that hubby might be called back in the future.

Anyway, that was 2 weeks ago, last week hubby received a call saying he was being into ESA Support group and this was confirmed this week by letter.

Muttleythefrog

minimadtrix wrote: »

Hubby had a similar appointment with the doctor. It would appear that he has one of the conditions that meets the 15 point rule. The doctor didn't speak to him about his, what we thought, main problems. He obviously picked out the one that might get the 15 points first, after about 10 mins went to make a phone call and came back with the same response - he had consulted with his superior and they both agree there was no need to continue with the appointment. He suggested that this did not mean that hubby might be called back in the future.

Anyway, that was 2 weeks ago, last week hubby received a call saying he was being into ESA Support group and this was confirmed this week by letter.

As above... I would advise you request a copy of the ESA85 ATOS medical report from the DWP. '15 point rule' isn't something familiar to me... I assume this is your own terminology as points are not relevant for Support Group. To confirm... Support Group can be qualified for by meeting a Support Group descriptor (or several... some of them also happen to be the same as 15 point descriptors for WRAG) or by meeting exceptional circumstances criteria (non functional descriptors... such as terminal illness) that qualifies for Support Group. The medical report was probably effectively rubber stamped by the DWP and so the report will shed light on how qualification for Support Group was found to be achieved. This could be very useful to you in future at reassessments... and indeed reassessment timing will likely follow the advice of the prognosis given in that report.

doelani

Thanks everyone for talking the time to reply . Will update once I hear from DWP