Ask Atos Healthcare disability assessment questions

megc_2

Hi Atos rep,
My partner had a medical for a DLA appeal last week at home. I attended with him, taking time off work to do so. The Dr told us he had been a Consultant gastroenterologist prior to his retirement 4years before and his subsequent employment with Atos.
1) how is a gastroenterologist supposed to comment accurately upon my partners condition, caused by complaints unrelated to gastroenterology at all? Why are your assessors not qualified in general practice or occupational health and therefore more able comment upon the care needs related to a particular health condition?
2) why did the Doctor make it clear that my views (as a carer) were completely irrelevant in his opinion, snubbing me every time I made a comment about my partners ability to do certain activities?
3) why did the doctor use leading questions throughout the assessment, prompting my partner to give the sneers he wanted to hear, and why did he keep pressurising my partner into giving those answers until he felt no option but to agree? Do Atos staff not learn to use open questions when interviewing people to get the correct information.
4) the doctor said he would complete a large section of the form after he left the appointment, and did not ask my partner to read or sign the information he had given the doctor to confirm it was correct. I thought this was supposed to be the case? How can we know that the report will be true or accurate? He didn't seem to write down everything my partner said, ignoring huge parts such as my partners nighttime care needs.

isolation

megc wrote: »

Hi Atos rep,
My partner had a medical for a DLA appeal last week at home.

... ignoring huge parts such as my partners nighttime care needs.

I am sorry to hear that your partner had a similar experience to my partner

Like you, I assumed that the ATOS HCP would try to ascertain accurate information rather than be aggressive, repeat questions again and again, disregard a lot of important information and make up other information.

As one example that you have highlighted, my partner talked a lot about her nighttime care needs and this was not mentioned in the report at all. During the complaint process the doctor actually said that as she has the same musculo-skeletal system at night then her care needs are the same (!!!!).

If I were you I would call the DWP now and ask them for a copy of the HCP's report when they receive it. If you feel that there are errors in the report and it either does not reflect your partners care needs or was inaccurately recorded, write a formal letter of complaint to ATOS (and remember that there are 3 tiers, only the last of which seems to treat a complaint seriously from my experience) and send a copy to the DWP saying that you are contesting the facts as laid out in the HCPs report.

There are so many similarities I initially wondered if it was the same HCP, but then again I imagine that many ATOS employees behave in a very similar, unprofessional manner.

Best wishes and hope that the decision is a fair one.
Dee
http://dwpnegligence.wordpress.com

halight

Bungling Atos rake in £500million of taxpayers' cash from botched fitness-to-work tests

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/bungling-atos-rake-500million-botched-1879598

MP Tom Greatrex says it's wrong for the private firm to be cashing in when sick and disabled people are suffering because of the "mess" caused by new rules on claiming benefits.


“The public are paying twice for this process – first through the £112million a year contract and then again with millions in appeals to clean up the mess left behind by Atos and the DWP.

schrodie

The official said: “Everyone has the right to appeal, so it’s not surprising that some people do.

“Overall only 15 per cent of all fit for work decisions are overturned and this is often because people present new evidence which wasn’t available when the original decision

What the DWP official failed to say was that if Atos had done their job properely in the frirst place by following their own procedures as laid down in the Medical Services Handbook then the "healthcare professional" would have requested the further medical evidence prior to the WCA as part of the Filework stage!!

I see the MSE Atos rep has now gone to ground!

little_monkey

Raksha wrote: »

Well that was the title she used. She has called me back, but still can't give me a decision. 2nd time she called, she used a different title.

I had a similar call,woman said "I am from ATOS and am requesting more information from you and your doctor before i make a decision on your assessment result".

I explained to her that she cannot make a decision and its the DWP that make the decision.She replied "Oh yes i can and i do,you would be surprised at what we can do".

She also lied saying she had asked my doctor for some medical information regarding my conditions and the doctor wrote back to her saying i was'nt with that doctor anymore.I immediatley got in touch with my doctor and as i suspected,the doctor and receptionist at the surgery had never had any contact with ATOS regarding anything.

halight

Disability benefit assessments 'unfair', says ex-worker

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22546036

A doctor who worked for the private company which assesses people for disability benefits says its methods are "unfair".

Greg Wood, a former Royal Navy doctor, resigned from Atos earlier this month, after working as an assessor for two-and-a-half years.

He told the BBC the system was "skewed against the claimant".

=====

Full Story at link

tracy0770

Now you know what you are up against, medical evidence you submit is hidden from doctors by ATOS, shower of !!!!!!!s.

Medical assessments of benefit applicants at Atos Healthcare were designed to incorrectly assess claimants as being fit for work, one of the company's former senior doctors has claimed.

Greg Wood, a GP who worked at the company as a senior adviser on mental health issues, said claimants were not assessed in an "even-handed way", that evidence for claims was never put forward by the company for doctors to use, and that medical staff were told to change reports if they were too favourable to claimants.

The doctor claimed he resigned in disgust at what was going on, saying that many doctors he had spoken to shared his concerns. "I think the Department for Work and Pensions is the real culprit here. It's the government training that makes Atos assessors do this."

The work capability assessment is used for the government's employment and support allowance, a benefit paid to those too sick to work. Wood said that the assessors were trained in such a way that they expected claimants to score too few points to qualify for ESA, and to award points "begrudgingly".

The attitude drilled into assessors "leans towards finding reasons not to award points", he claimed. The result was a bias against the disabled, he said.

Last year the British Medical Association called for the tests to be scrapped to prevent harm to the most vulnerable people in society. Wood said that although his contract with Atos had a confidentiality clause, he was breaking it in the "public interest". He told the Guardian: "In my experience [Atos assessors] are not free to make independent recommendations, important evidence is frequently missing or never sought in the first place, medical knowledge is twisted and points are often wrongly withheld through the use of an erroneously high standard of proof."

He said if Atos assessors "show deviation from the official line they are instructed to change the report. In about a quarter of assessments important documentary evidence such as the claimant's own GP assessment is missing but the assessments go ahead regardless."

Although work capability tests were introduced by Labour in 2008, the coalition has rapidly expanded their use.

Atos – which last year processed almost 20,000 incapacity benefit claimants a week – has faced criticism after it emerged that a third (37%) of decisions appealed against were successfully overturned.

There have also been repeated claims that people with terminal cancer have been denied benefits as a result of Atos assessments and that the company sets out to strip people of benefits by making the tests arduous and degrading.

Labour MP Tom Greatrex, who has campaigned for reforms to Atos and the fitness to work test, said: "These are very serious and shocking allegations which must be urgently looked at. I have written to the prime minister today asking him to personally order an investigation.

"Those who can work should be helped into employment through effective back-to-work schemes, and those who can't through illness or disability should be supported. It's about helping people, not hounding them. Based on the evidence of Dr Wood this system is failing us all in the worst possible way."

In a statement Atos said it "completely refuted allegations made by Dr Wood that Atos Healthcare acts inappropriately or unethically. We never ask healthcare professionals to make any changes to a report unless there are specific clinical quality issues identified within it. A report that may need to be revised could, for example, be one where there is insufficient justification recorded to support the advice given.

"We do not deviate from government guidelines in our training. We do not have targets for getting people on or off benefits. We are a professional and ethical organisation which has carried out this work on behalf of the department for over a decade.

"Atos Healthcare conducts its business based on a code of ethics and a strong legal compliance culture. Like any other organisation we are, quite properly, subject to scrutiny. However, Atos Healthcare will take appropriate legal steps to defend itself and its employees where false and damaging allegations are made."

The Department for Work and Pensions said the claims had been "well-aired before". "A decision on whether someone is well enough to work is taken after a thorough assessment and consideration of all the supporting medical evidence provided by the claimant."

"There are absolutely no targets regarding how many people should be found fit for work and since 2010 we have considerably improved the work capability assessment (WCA) process. The percentage of people entitled to employment and support allowance is now at its highest level with over half of people completing a WCA eligible for the benefit."

johnsmi

I think than in the light of the above information about the ex ATOS doctor I feel that it might be time for this site to review its policy as regards giving the ATOS rep a platform to express ATOS's views on here.

John

sicknotethefirst

You can try here http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/register/LRMP.asp and if nothing shows give them a call I have found them to be very helpful in the past.

Atos_Healthcare_representative

IanIBinnie wrote: »

How can check the medical qualifications of the ATOS representative who conducted the assessment?

Hi IanIBinnie

All our doctors are registered with the GMC and before carrying out assessments they receive further comprehensive specialist training in disability assessment. They must then be approved by the DWP Chief Medical Adviser on behalf of the Secretary of State.