Ask Atos Healthcare disability assessment questions

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staz

Wonder if I may finally get an answer on day 15.

Atos rep don't worry I'll re post the questions yet again since you have already missed it about 4 times.

In terms of an aid or appliance for mobilising, what is considered to be the definition of medically reasonable. For example a consultant prescribed said person a wheelchair for long distances, from assessment was deemed that wheelchair can be used to mobilise short distances through working day. This will compromise said persons condition making them unable to carry out tasks that they can currently do down the line due to the effect it will have on their leg strength. Is this medically reasonable?

Also if deemed to use a chair to mobilise around a work environment why does the ability to get up or down 2 steps go back to them using crutches or other aid? Surely the same aid should be considered as a wheelchair user can not get up 2 steps and even if they can walking they need to be able to get the chair up the steps as well.

halight

staz wrote: »

Wonder if I may finally get an answer on day 15.

Atos rep don't worry I'll re post the questions yet again since you have already missed it about 4 times.

In terms of an aid or appliance for mobilising, what is considered to be the definition of medically reasonable. For example a consultant prescribed said person a wheelchair for long distances, from assessment was deemed that wheelchair can be used to mobilise short distances through working day. This will compromise said persons condition making them unable to carry out tasks that they can currently do down the line due to the effect it will have on their leg strength. Is this medically reasonable?

Also if deemed to use a chair to mobilise around a work environment why does the ability to get up or down 2 steps go back to them using crutches or other aid? Surely the same aid should be considered as a wheelchair user can not get up 2 steps and even if they can walking they need to be able to get the chair up the steps as well.

You might as well give up on this question.
If you can not find an answer on the ATOS web site then you wll not get an answer on here,

they are not here you give you an answer, they are here to try and make themsels look good. Now that MP's have started to ask questions about them being a "fit" company. To have a Government contract.

staz

Atos_Healthcare_company_representative wrote: »

In a small number of centres, we don’t have access to ground floor assessment rooms. Although there are lifts in these centres, there are health and safety implications if, in the event of a fire, you cannot use stairs. In these areas, we let people know about access prior to scheduling appointments to try to ensure no one goes to a centre that isn't appropriate for them.

Should this little fact actually be considered in the WCA's. I'm pretty sure upon entering my assessment the first thing that would of been thought and is possibly the case for many others like myself is "they can easily work in an office environment". Should it not then be considered under the substantial risk section as it would be more likely to land an office job in a multi-story? The ability to get up two steps is a little different to a flight of stairs. Or is it just ignored and instead we face the hard truth that employers wont give us a job because of this very health and safety issue.

staz

halight wrote: »

You might as well give up on this question.
If you can not find an answer on the ATOS web site then you wll not get an answer on here,

they are not here you give you an answer, they are here to try and make themsels look good. Now that MP's have started to ask questions about them being a "fit" company. To have a Government contract.

By me not giving up on these very questions which fit the guidelines we were given when asking suitable questions they are only doing the exact opposite and making themselves look terrible.

These are simple questions one a straight up definition which they have to take into consideration when determining if an aid would be suitable. The other well a simple question regarding how they should of been trained to carry out the WCA again it should be widely known among the company and easily answered.

Atos_Healthcare_representative

hipraptor wrote: »

Someone rang up about 2 weeks ago asking about benefits, my wife thought it was DWP, after seeing this post I have just asked her who it was but because she gets confused and forgets things she cannot even remember the call.

My wife is still on IB and so I am wondering is this the beginning of the ATOS campaign for her?

Hi hipraptor,

sorry for the delay in answering this. Atos Healthcare will only call you to make or change an appointment for a face to face work capability assessment. All other telephone contact about your claim will come from DWP.

halight

Someone else that a atos medical deemed "Fit for work"

Benefits appeal woman Cecilia Burns from Strabane has died

A cancer sufferer, who had her benefits cut by government officials who said she was fit to work, has died.

Cecilia Burns, 51, from Strabane, County Tyrone, had started a campaign in February to have the decision overturned.

Ms Burns had her benefits cut after she was assessed by government contractor Atos Healthcare.

She had her benefits reinstated just a few weeks ago but died on Monday.

'Disgusted'
During her campaign the County Tyrone woman said she was "disgusted" after the government cut her sickness benefit and told her she was fit to work.

Cecilia Burns had her Employment Support Allowance reduced by £30 a week even though she was still undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Ms Burns had described the medical test as a "joke".

The government is seeking to reassess all 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit - and its successor employment support allowance (ESA) - by 2014 in an effort to encourage more people back to work and to cut the welfare bill.

Stormont Assembly MLA, Michaela Boyle, had helped Ms Burns in her campaign.

"I have known Cecilia since she went for her medical assessment. She received nil points and appealed that assessment."

Ms Boyle is critical of the assessment process.


A protester in London was seen carrying a banner for Cecilia Burns at the protest outside Atos HQ
"Our office has been dealing with the fall-out of this on a daily basis and that is mainly with the flaws. A lot of MLAs will be facing the wrath of this.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19433535

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Please go to the BBC website to read the full story.

halight

32 die a week after failing test for new incapacity benefit
BY NICK SOMMERLAD ON APRIL 4, 2012 11:00 PM IN HEALTH
More than a thousand !sickness benefit claimants died last year after being told to get a job, we can reveal.

We've highlighted worries about the controversial medical tests for people claiming Employment Support Allowance which are being used to slash the country's welfare bill.

Stephen Hill, 53, of Duckmanton, Derbyshire, died of a heart attack in December, one month after being told he was "fit to work", even though he was waiting for major heart surgery.

Citizens Advice told us it has found "a number of cases" of people dying soon after being found fit for work.


The work capability assessments are carried out by private firm Atos, on a £100million a year contract.

The firm made a £42million profit in 2010 and paid boss Keith Wilman £800,000, a 22% pay rise on the previous year.


http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/04/32-die-a-week-after-failing-in.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

halight

Taken from this web site.



http://the-newrepublic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/atos-suicide-attempt.html

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Dear sirs/ladies,


I visited a client yesterday on a psychiatric ward.

She had been contacted by ATOS regarding a medical. Her response to this was to slice her own throat open in front of her family.

I work closely with some of the most extreme clients with severe psychiatric issues.

Is this a normal and acceptable

We would like to know, that when ATOS were informed 10 days ago by a forensic psychologist and CPN is why did ATOS firstly agree and cancel appointment, then couple days later send her another appointment, where on this occasion she suceeded in severly put her health at risk and ended up back into hospital, which she had only just been released from 24 hours prior.

halight

Benefits bullies Atos driving Scots to brink of suicide, shock survey reveals

25 Sep 2012 07:07
AN astonishing one fifth of doctors believe Atos tests are giving patients suicidal thoughts, a report has revealed.


DISABLED Scots are being driven to the brink of suicide by controversial fit-for-work tests carried out by Atos.

Disturbing testimony from doctors exposes the devastation wreaked by the Con-Dem Government’s attempts to slash the welfare bill.

A shock survey shows 84 per cent of GPs have patients who have suffered stress, anxiety and depression due to the humiliating work capability assessments by the French multinational company.


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Taken from here http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/benefits-bullies-atos-are-driving-scots-1342594

Please visit site to read the full story