ATOS report

MatthewD1985

It really is a waste of time having assessments in the first place. I feel they need to just take the doctors word for it to be fair they really are the ones best placed to say if someone should be at work or not, its not exactly easy to go into a doctors and get a sick note for a illness you don't have and to sustain getting follow on notes too. If i was a Dr. I would be very offended that my diagnoses were being invalidated by box ticking bureaucrats and would wonder why the DWP needs them anyway if they just make up their own mind. Ill health is such a broad spectrum you cant have a one size fits all model for assessing peoples health that are all so different and sometimes really specialised.. The outcomes of assessments can be at polar opposites for someone with exactly the same health conditions - so it clearly doesn't work. I can be experiencing mania for about 6-12 weeks them for the following 2 months I can't go outside the front door during which time I would rather starve than face anyone I don't open letters and can't bear answering the door or phone sometimes, compared to being overly active, happy (ecstatic sometimes) and being disorganised, not finishing anything off and being quite irresponsible. So its hard to get that across in an assessment.  When I had a PIP assessment i was going through a very manic period, when they turned up i was burning toast so smoke alarm was going theyknocked the door and in the excitement i knocked a tin of gloss diwn the stairs which burst at the bottom causing panic mode so as you can imagine my claim from the old DLA to PIP was smooth and therefore I am lucky but I know some have real issues with even getting a home visit to the point they just have give up the claim. Very unfair.

Benistmonk

That's it exactly Matthew, they tell you to provide sick notes, but at the same time they are refusing to accept those sick notes as proof you are not fit for work. So why are they asking for medical information when they have no intention of accepting it. That act alone proves the system is corrupt. 

And how can a nurse say people are fit for work when they have been examined by doctors, consultants and specialists who say they are not fit for work. 

Bungalow

I think PIP assessments are amazing , I had mine and I am cured I no longer have Vertigo, I can use my right arm that was broken in four places and gone to malunion, I can shower myself with no help  which is true if I just stand there lol .My husband is an AID he has a new job.

 I wouldn't  live on sandwiches as I can cook with one arm , even tho hands riddled in Arthritis. I wear hearing aids but I can hear perfectly well  , I have a stiff neck from having a broken neck hardly able to turn head sometimes .Thank you nurse you could have done this two years ago and saved me a lot of pain as it is all in my head oh and I lie too just to get this amazing amount of money to top up my small wages . Wonderful, of course PIP works

Benistmonk

It is indeed a miracle Bungalow, you must have wept with joy when they told you had been cured. If only the NHS knew that all the sickness and pain in the world could be cured by ticking a few boxes. 

RickyMR

I wonder if any of the Assessors  read all the negative comments they get. I hardly ever see any positive ones. I assume it doesnt bother them because they get paid good money do the assessments. I read mainly negative comments on all of the forums on sites    for disabled people. Something needs to be done and quick about sorting out why there are so many problems. Do they not realise they we do not chose to be disabled and all we want is some help when we most need it. My GP was very angry that all the medical evidence seems to have been ignored. 

Benistmonk

I don't think it is wrong to criticise a system that serves no useful purpose other than to deny benefits to those who are entitled to claim them. A system designed to undermine medical experts with the highest medical degrees by people with the lowest medical degrees, if indeed they have any qualifications at all. People who are barely qualified to change dressings and wipe patients backsides, all of a sudden, they are experts in all medical matters, if you can believe that.    

poppy123456

I'll start the good stories off here, just to prove that they are out there but we rarely hear about them.

I claimed PIP for the first time in 2013, after being refused DLA. Waited 11 months for an assessment, decision was made and awarded Standard for both. Already placed into the Support Group earlier that same year.

Review came 2 years later, 4 days after my assessment a decision was made, standard for daily living, increased mobility to Enhanced for 3 years.

ESA paper based assessment in 2016 to remain in the Support Group.

ESA assessment October 2018 but this time a face to face assessment  was needed. Decision 2 weeks later, remain in the Support Group.

Applied for PIP for my daughter August 2017, face to face assessment needed, at home. 5-6 weeks later decision made, Enhanced for both parts.

In all honesty, i've never had a bad HCP for any assessment. For my PIP review the HCP could see i was freezing as it was a really cold winters day. I went into the room and she turned the heating up for me, 5 minutes later she asked if i was feeling warmer. Assessment lasted 10 minutes.

For my very latest ESA assessment the HCP i had was so lovely, mobility issues is just part of my conditions and she let me hold onto her arm while she helped me into the room. She waited while i stopped several times on the way. The chair i sat in was really low and i was unable to get back up, she held out both hands to help me up and then again let me hold onto her arm while she helped me out the door to meet my daughter who was waiting with the car. She wasn't at all bothered about the time it took me to walk out of the centre and kept telling me to take my time.

All assessment reports were received and they were all truthful, with the exception of just one contradiction in my daughters PIP report. I didn't bother challenging this because with a score of 16 points for daily living and 12 for mobility, it wouldn't have made any difference anyway.

So the good stories are most definitely out there because i'm proof of that. I also know there's others here that have also had no issues either.

Benistmonk

ilovecats said:

"Barely qualified to change dressings and wipe patients backsides" . . .

I think you'll find they are all over qualified to perform such tasks but they'd do it anyway with a smile on their face. 

The nurses I see sit in front of a computer screen, ignore expert medical evidence, ask stupid questions and then make up lies to cover their deception. 

poppy123456

Medical evidence stating a diagnosis, and what medication you take isn't going to award you PIP.

Evidence telling them how your conditions affect you against the PIP descriptors is what you should be sending, alone with a form that gives as much information as possible about how your conditions affect you. Adding 2-3 examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you, is even better.

Bungalow

I had a good result first time through the system was ok with it but not happy, it wasn't about the points I had it was the whole process, that is why I am not appealing. I realised my gripe was how the assessments are done with the inconsistencies and errors, which I was annoyed with especially when I first read the report.

If I had argued with it I probably wouldn't have scored any more points just a principle thing with me and how it made me feel and the realisation I was more focused on what was said and the accusation I was lying.  Consultant reports being contradicted when they are not qualified to do this, so i decided to accept it. It seems to be a common theme with a some claimants. 

This had nothing to do with myself not having all the correct information or not being prepared, or wasting tax payers money. The system without a doubt needs improving, more training for the health practitioners? even they moan about how the whole system is set up and how it can be unfair , just like Universal Credit , now that's another story lol ... 

Benistmonk

I am sure there are many good stories out there Poppy, for eg you don't need any medical qualifications to see people in wheel chairs are disabled, people with no legs or arms, people with the minds of children, you can't deny benefits to people like that.

There are plenty of people who look perfectly normal but have some form of wasting illness like MS, dementia, parkinsons, mental health issues etc to name but a few, none of which can be seen by the naked eye, those are the ones being denied benefit.

Bungalow

I am a bit confused pardon my ignorance , but peeps go on about it is not about medical evidence but how it effects you. Without the medical evidence how can you prove how anything effects you? now I'm just confusing myself lol

poppy123456

Benistmonk said:

There are plenty of people who look perfectly normal but have some form of wasting illness like MS, dementia, parkinsons, mental health issues etc to name but a few, none of which can be seen by the naked eye, those are the ones being denied benefit.

My daughter has an invisible condition, ASD, learning disability and social anxiety disorder of childhood. She claims Enhanced for both. I also personally know 2 other people that have mental health issues, that claim PIP and ESA. Lots of people with invisible conditions claim them without any problems at all.

Yadnad

Benistmonk said:

I am sure there are many good stories out there Poppy, for eg you don't need any medical qualifications to see people in wheel chairs are disabled, people with no legs or arms, people with the minds of children, you can't deny benefits to people like that.

There are plenty of people who look perfectly normal but have some form of wasting illness like MS, dementia, parkinsons, mental health issues etc to name but a few, none of which can be seen by the naked eye, those are the ones being denied benefit.

I couldn't have made the point any clearer myself.

Unfortunately with some of these 'hidden' conditions they manifest  themselves in ways that the assessor would down grade you on. One for example is outbursts of temper and being downright objectional caused through frustration. I am one such person as I cannot stand inadequacy in it's many forms in others whether real or perceived. I can be bombastic, arrogant and argumentative.
 How the assessor should deal with that I don't know.

Bungalow

hahahah yadnad you do make me smile lol ....

poppy123456

Medical evidence from a GP is never the best evidence to send, they will only know how your conditions affect you if you tell them. They will only be able to tell the basics like medication and what appointments you've had and what for.

Medical evidence is only good if it's from a community mental health team because this states in a lot of detail exactly how your conditions affect you.

Bungalow

I'm coming to you Poppy when I am up for renewal to navigate the complexities of PIP It just confuses the life out of me to be honest.

Yadnad

poppy123456 said:

Medical evidence is only good if it's from a community mental health team because this states in a lot of detail exactly how your conditions affect you.

Yep got to agree with you.

As you may or may not know, back in 2012 I had a whole series of tests and scans relating to brain function carried out by the CMHT for Older People . You are right those reports, one in particular, went on through 6 pages including what the effects were on me and how the issues impacted on how I lived my life. 

I know you have said it before that there is no rule on how old a report can be if it is still relevant years later. Yes that report actually was the reason in 2013 and 2015 that changed my PIP award from 0 points to Enhanced Care. 

Unfortunately the DWP refused to use it in 2017 citing that it was too old! Hence why the MR did not change.

But I will agree reports of that type and nature are a godsend.

Benistmonk

poppy123456 said:

My daughter has an invisible condition, ASD, learning disability and social anxiety disorder of childhood. She claims Enhanced for both. I also personally know 2 other people that have mental health issues, that claim PIP and ESA. Lots of people with invisible conditions claim them without any problems at all.

It must be severe enough to be visible then, otherwise she wouldn't get a penny.

Maybe it is just me, I keep meeting nurses who lie. I have been to 3 maybe 4 tribunals, won each time and I still find myself having to go through another tribunal. 

I have already asked about this on here anyway, like how many times can the DWP send you to tribunal, and you said they can send you as many times as they like. That does not sound like a system that is working properly to me, its a downright abuse of process at the very least. 

Bungalow

1.6m are being reviewed under mental health claims for PIP I think that say's it all about the system for mental health .