Been called for medical - not happy

Muttleythefrog

nannytone wrote: »

I passed my ESA medical a year ago next week, with no problems.

i was sent a new ESA 50 in july, which i completed and returned.
ATOS bounced it straight back to DWP without the need for a medical.

not gloating ... just pointing out that they system can work. we just tend to haer the negative stories and not thge positive ones

Same for me at reassessment... but when I looked at the underlying documents they were still full of rubbish sadly..lol

nannytone_2

i didnt bother asking for mine ....
i know its siggested that you ask for them regardless of if you pass or fail though

Muttleythefrog

nannytone wrote: »

i didnt bother asking for mine ....
i know its siggested that you ask for them regardless of if you pass or fail though

Probably worth using them as evidence at reassessment.. can't do any harm. I'm conscious that the decision at my last reassessment.. the descriptor that was found to apply... could only really have been found to apply if they had been influenced heavily by the previous ATOS report I included.

DXM_2

My first ESA medical I got put in the WRAG and got over 100 points, I'm on higher care DLA lower care indefinitely.

The second time I had my medical I just scraped by with by with 15 points, but strangely enough they put me in the support group. Makes no sense. I get them for quite severe mental health issues that has resulted in past hospitalization for over a year, and self inflicted blindness in my right eye.

Atos are very nice to you, but they are vicious, cold and calculated. Their job is to prove you're lying. Don't forget that. In my first medical he asked if I use Facebook, which I said I did. He asked if I did anything social. (I never leave the house unless absolutely needed, and never social.) I answered no. In the report nee stated I regularly socialized with friends and could integrate well. Also, because I had a hobby of playing with my dogs, I didn't have issue with motivation or partaking in enjoyable activities. One very simple question about totally unrelated activities can impact other relevant questions very significantly.

nannytone_2

the descriptors were changed last year, which is probably why there was such a huge points discrepency.

you can get a million points and still be put in the WRAG.

su[[prt grpup isnt determined by the amount of points you receive, but by meeting the support group descriptors.

i had my first WFI for 3 months today ( had been going monthly before)
had a new advisor. i told her i was interested in advocacy. she got all excited and said ' i have a job in my inbox that you could apply for'

the fact that i have no training in the field, and that the job was #mobile' covering half of derbyshire ( i'm registered blind, so getting about is problematic) seemed to escape her totally!

oh well.... my next appointment is in another 4 months ....

suburbanwifey

MUMZ2BEE wrote: »

My gp unfortunately wont do me a letter to take as I did ask her, BUT she was very supportive at referring me back to MH for support.

She said no to a letter as she said she wasn't sure what questions I'd be asked.

I believe I fit the descriptor that asks if you can walk 50 metres without suffering pain and exhuastion.

I cant walk very far without getting breathless, and I have suffered from palpitations in the chest, and felt dizzy/sick.

I put all this on the ESA form and am amazed at still being called.

I shall just have to try and explain things at the time and hope for the best; but the again I know I can always appeal if I fail!!

Again, many thanks!! ::++)) xx

I think the being unable to walk 50 meters without suffering exhaustion or pain etc. is one that most will fail. The problem being so many have been caught out by undercover surveillance to be able to walk well, without pain, even run, jump and skip etc. It takes a lot to be unable to walk 50 meters to be honest, so I am not surprised you were called in for a medical. Those with anxiety/depression and
an inability to walk 50 meters have the hardest job proving they are unable to work.

I wouldn't advise saying you can't walk 50 meters easily when out of the house unless its totally true, their cameras and their surveillance teams may be watching one day. Not trying to scare you, trying to warn you, best to only ever tell the truth etc.

I hope it goes well for you but due to your personal issues I worry that it won't. Just tell the truth then you won't get caught at a later stage xx

Horseunderwater

Unfortunately - it is not about the actual walking to meet the Support group descriptor for 50 meters. What it is really about is can you sit in a wheelchair and propel yourself along in that chair, and it matters not if you do not have one or are ever likely to have one. It can be imagined if you can or not. I have an incurable illness called Myasthenia Gravis, which effects my muscles communicating with my nerves and causes me severe weakness - especially in my shoulders and arms etc. So when I went for my medical, I had what is called the push and pull test. I did not have enough strength to push the Doctors arms back at her, nor pull them to me. So that is how I got to be popped into support group. I too cannot walk more than 6-8 meters without loads of pain and I get breathless and I have incontinence more than once per week, which are also supp grp descriptors, but I firmly believe it was the imaginary wheelchair that tipped the balance. My medical was actually cut short to 1/2 hour instead of the expected hour, so I was surprised to pass the medical as I thought I'd failed it. That was my experience.

GlasweJen

The descriptor is "mobilise", if you can reasonably self propel a wheelchair (even if you've never done so before) then you will not score on this descriptor.

If you can claim ESA for a fast heart, a touch of depression (you dont mention a psychiatrist) and an under active thyroid then I seriously give up on this country.

Have you tried sitting down and listing jobs that you can do? Working on a check out is fairly easy going and the banter in supermarkets is good, or you could try a clerical work. What did you do before you got sick?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

suburbanwifey wrote: »

I think the being unable to walk 50 meters without suffering exhaustion or pain etc. is one that most will fail. The problem being so many have been caught out by undercover surveillance to be able to walk well, without pain, even run, jump and skip etc. It takes a lot to be unable to walk 50 meters to be honest, so I am not surprised you were called in for a medical. Those with anxiety/depression and
an inability to walk 50 meters have the hardest job proving they are unable to work.

I wouldn't advise saying you can't walk 50 meters easily when out of the house unless its totally true, their cameras and their surveillance teams may be watching one day. Not trying to scare you, trying to warn you, best to only ever tell the truth etc.

I hope it goes well for you but due to your personal issues I worry that it won't. Just tell the truth then you won't get caught at a later stage xx

i dont agree on the DWP not classifying people to the support group because they carryout surveillance to do this would cost over £5000 per claimant ebcause they cant film one peice of evidence and call it evidence it must show a repeat of the claimed level being in breach and its even harder to prove against claimants with varying conditions.

for e.g. a claimant with breathing problems such as Asthma or similar, they whitness on day one that claimant can walk with his walking stick approx 60 meters, the weather is clear moderately warm at approx 18deg c, they believe he is in breach of his claimed level of benefit, they go back to the claim form he submitted, in it states that weather conditions varie his ability to walk unaided on level ground because his luings are sensetive to weather types. they go back to discover that the claimant is now not walking any significant distance, as the weather has changed from warm to cold and rainy, the claimant is seen struggling and family members help him to get from point A to point B approx 10 meters, the claimant is obsurved through open curtains to be on a nebuliser. does this mean the covert operation has been discovered or is it a fluke, so they repeat this processs over time, costing more money than the claim pays out per year.

so to suggest that claimant fails this catagory of support group due to the minority of false claimants being found to the latter, is far fetched.
when assessed there are visual inspections to gather intelligance of such incopacity, from walking gate, to observitory actions leading into the assessment room, to being able to stand for periods, and so on. those who fake being able to walk no further than 50 meters, are pretty much spotted instantly.

the trouble with this its based on mostely personal opinion that genuin claimant COULD walk more than 50 meters eventhough presented with a condition that should tick that catagory if the assessor isnt 100% sure this is the case, then he will not tick that box and passport you to support group, then upon appeal if found to be in that catagory its unlikely that the DWP will challenge that.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

GlasweJen wrote: »

The descriptor is "mobilise", if you can reasonably self propel a wheelchair (even if you've never done so before) then you will not score on this descriptor.

If you can claim ESA for a fast heart, a touch of depression (you dont mention a psychiatrist) and an under active thyroid then I seriously give up on this country.

Have you tried sitting down and listing jobs that you can do? Working on a check out is fairly easy going and the banter in supermarkets is good, or you could try a clerical work. What did you do before you got sick?

in somecases that the wheelchair or walking stick part can be eliminated due to the condition presented, take emphysema in its late stages, the physical excersion to self proppell would by far exagerate the symptoms, if the claimant was found to be in support group due to not being able to walk 50 meters upon visual assessment then commonsense would suggest that he wouldnt be able to self proppel due to excersion causing severe breathing difficulty.

i agree that i cant see tachycardia getting this claimant support group esa, i am tachycardic due to ventolin use, and i cant say it has caused me to become breathless to the point of having to stop, i agree that it causes dizzyness, and trying to sleep at night when you can hear the thud of your own heartbeat in your ears as you head is on the pillow can cause some sleepless situations leading to fatigue.

not all MH problems automatically lead to a psyciatrist, there are CPN's who can manage most MH problems for MH sufferers, but there is a cutoff point, that when all thereputic treatments such as CRT and the like and anti depressants seem to have minimal effect, then the psyciatrist come into it and this takes many many months.