My horrific atos experience

juddrick1

Hi all, I just wanted to share what happened at my ATOS IIDB assessment today, at the Stockport branch.

Today was my 4th assessment, but my 1st at an assessment centre, the other 3 were home visits.

Bit of history about me:
I suffered a broken back and cauda equine syndrome in a work related injury. I am unable to sit and stand for long periods and suffer from nerve pain in my right leg, also urinary and bowel problems. I also have loss of sensation in my leg and under carriage shall we say .

I arrived at the centre 5 minutes before my appointment time , I went to book in with reception and asked if there was a perching stool or similar aid I could sit on, as the chairs in reception weren’t really suitable for me .They were too low , and didn’t have any arms .

A centre that is mainly visited by disabled people. I thought this would be a given, but to my surprise there wasn’t anything in the way of aids or assistance available.

So I asked the receptionist if it was ok to stand next to the handrail, as my back was rather tired from the 20 minutes travelling to the centre. They were fine with this.

Time was ticking and it was 15 minutes or so past my appointment time, so I asked the receptionist if it was going to be much longer as I was starting to get pain in my leg. She didn’t know.

So I was patient, standing next to the rail, but becoming more concerned , as I was starting to physically shake because the pain was getting worse in my leg.

No one seemed to bother that I was in pain, even the security guard was too busy reading his novel at his desk.

Anyway, 20 minutes past appointment time, I was called by the doctor and followed him to his room. I was really struggling to get there. By the time I was in the assessment room , I was in significant pain, and was pretty desperate to sit in something suitable .

The chairs in his ‘office’ were much the same as in the reception except one had arm rails, but the chair was still too low for me to sit.
I asked the doctor if I could sit on a raised chair or perching stool, and he just said ‘ sorry we don’t have anything like this here’.

I told him I was physically struggling, but all he said was ‘ If your unable to sit , then it isn’t safe for you to have the assessment , and we will have to arrange a home visit.

I said ‘ I’ve come all this way , I’m not leaving without having the assessment’ , so I perched on the arm of the chair whilst he did the assessment . He could tell I was in pain, I was shaking .

So he started writing his document asking me what had happened since my last assessment ,filling in as I was saying.
Then he asked me to move over to the bed so he could examine my legs , my stomach and my scar on my back.

I couldn’t get on the bed , so I was kind of half on half off, with my bad leg planted on the floor. He rolled my trousers up and checked them , then lifted my t shirt and coat over my head whilst he checked my scar , and prodding at my stomach. This wasn’t comfortable and sent an electric pain down my leg. I was in considerable pain now , and felt really quite faint.

We then went back over to the chair again, so I could read what he had written .
There where subtle missed words in it i.e ... I said I couldn’t use the toilet without medication eg movicol, senna , docusate. But he had written , that I could use the toilet without medication.

He also missed out some of the medication I am taking.
Some 15mins later it was over , and I was shown out. I was virtually unable to walk , and stumbled against the wall, whilst he held the door open for me .
The last straw was when leaving , the automatic disable button wasn’t working, and I couldn’t open the door, so I had to ask the security guard to open it.
Got outside , and had to rest against a shop wall , as I couldn’t walk back to the car to get my lift.

A very nice old lady came over to see if I was ok, which was very kind.
Thank you for reading this, and hope my experience can help people .

I really want to complain about what happened, mainly that the whole centre isn’t fit for purpose. Especially with the amount of people with difficulties who go to these places.

What is the best course of action?
Complaining to MP, GP, ATOS etc . Because one day someone could be seriously injured or worse

Thank you for reading again

Lioness_Twinkletoes

Would it not make sense for you to take a walking aid that doubles as a chair? You drive, so it's not like you'd have to carry it everywhere.

To be honest, ATOS assessment centres deal with so many people with differing ailments that it would impossible to provide everything they all need.

You were offered the opportunity to leave and have a home visit but refused. What else could they have done?

Finally, your post should be in DT, as there is no benefit question here.

juddrick1

apologies for it being in wrong section.

I drive ? thats news to me

tomtontom

I would agree with LT, if you need adjustments you need to advise them beforehand or take your own. My local spinal unit only has normal chairs in the waiting room, but can arrange for you to wait elsewhere if given advance notice.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

juddrick1 wrote: »

apologies for it being in wrong section.

I drive ? thats news to me

Apologies if I have made assumptions. Still, if you don't drive that is even more reason to have a walker-chair combo. That way you can perch whenever you need to.

Errata

Because one day someone could be seriously injured or worse

They certainly could if they sit on the arm of a chair, I'm amazed you were allowed to and even more amazed you thought it was appropriate.

Diary

juddrick1 wrote: »

Hi all, I just wanted to share what happened at my ATOS IIDB assessment today, at the Stockport branch.

Today was my 4th assessment, but my 1st at an assessment centre, the other 3 were home visits.

Bit of history about me:
I suffered a broken back and cauda equine syndrome in a work related injury. I am unable to sit and stand for long periods and suffer from nerve pain in my right leg, also urinary and bowel problems. I also have loss of sensation in my leg and under carriage shall we say .

I arrived at the centre 5 minutes before my appointment time , I went to book in with reception and asked if there was a perching stool or similar aid I could sit on, as the chairs in reception weren’t really suitable for me .They were too low , and didn’t have any arms .

A centre that is mainly visited by disabled people. I thought this would be a given, but to my surprise there wasn’t anything in the way of aids or assistance available.

So I asked the receptionist if it was ok to stand next to the handrail, as my back was rather tired from the 20 minutes travelling to the centre. They were fine with this.

Time was ticking and it was 15 minutes or so past my appointment time, so I asked the receptionist if it was going to be much longer as I was starting to get pain in my leg. She didn’t know.

So I was patient, standing next to the rail, but becoming more concerned , as I was starting to physically shake because the pain was getting worse in my leg.

No one seemed to bother that I was in pain, even the security guard was too busy reading his novel at his desk.

Anyway, 20 minutes past appointment time, I was called by MR Majid and followed him to his room. I was really struggling to get there. By the time I was in the assessment room , I was in significant pain, and was pretty desperate to sit in something suitable .

The chairs in his ‘office’ were much the same as in the reception except one had arm rails, but the chair was still too low for me to sit.
I asked Mr Majid if I could sit on a raised chair or perching stool, and he just said ‘ sorry we don’t have anything like this here’.

I told him I was physically struggling, but all he said was ‘ If your unable to sit , then it isn’t safe for you to have the assessment , and we will have to arrange a home visit.

I said ‘ I’ve come all this way , I’m not leaving without having the assessment’ , so I perched on the arm of the chair whilst he did the assessment . He could tell I was in pain, I was shaking .

So he started writing his document asking me what had happened since my last assessment ,filling in as I was saying.
Then he asked me to move over to the bed so he could examine my legs , my stomach and my scar on my back.

I couldn’t get on the bed , so I was kind of half on half off, with my bad leg planted on the floor. He rolled my trousers up and checked them , then lifted my t shirt and coat over my head whilst he checked my scar , and prodding at my stomach. This wasn’t comfortable and sent an electric pain down my leg. I was in considerable pain now , and felt really quite faint.

We then went back over to the chair again, so I could read what he had written .
There where subtle missed words in it i.e ... I said I couldn’t use the toilet without medication eg movicol, senna , docusate. But he had written , that I could use the toilet without medication.

He also missed out some of the medication I am taking.
Some 15mins later it was over , and I was shown out. I was virtually unable to walk , and stumbled against the wall, whilst he held the door open for me .
The last straw was when leaving , the automatic disable button wasn’t working, and I couldn’t open the door, so I had to ask the security guard to open it.
Got outside , and had to rest against a shop wall , as I couldn’t walk back to the car to get my lift.

A very nice old lady came over to see if I was ok, which was very kind.
Thank you for reading this, and hope my experience can help people .

I really want to complain about what happened, mainly that the whole centre isn’t fit for purpose. Especially with the amount of people with difficulties who go to these places.

What is the best course of action?
Complaining to MP, GP, ATOS etc . Because one day someone could be seriously injured or worse

Thank you for reading again[/QUOTE

Your experience was horrendous I fully can empathise with you. Mine was a PIP assessment and it wasn't as bad as yours but bad enough - the nurse was very unpleasant to me, the assessment place wasn't accessible to wheelchair users like me despite my asking beforehand and there were no accessible toilets. Incidentally the disabled door button didn't work either. Although really hard for you I think I would of also stayed, like you did, for the assessment as well as you never know when they'll turn up at your home for assessment even if you have an appointment. I managed to get hold of my ATOS report and it held many inaccuracies and what can only be described in normal society as lies. I did complain about the nurse to ATOS just for my own peace of mind as I know nothing will be done I also asked for a new wheelchair wheel tyre as my carer had to 'bump' me up the large kurb and punctured it - again just for my peace of mind. Good luck with your result.

helping_hand2014

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

Apologies if I have made assumptions. .

people seem to do a lot of that on here they just assume when its clear they shouldn't

kittykat17

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

You drive, so it's not like you'd have to carry it everywhere..

OP wrote: "as I couldn’t walk back to the car to get my lift."

Lioness_Twinkletoes

kittykat17 wrote: »

OP wrote: "as I couldn’t walk back to the car to get my lift."

Yes, I know she did - hence my apology. The point of your post is....?

wildwestfan

I would suggest editing the OP to remove the name of the person doing the assessment.