Database of Health Professionals (Assessors)

@Victoriad I know that a lot of people don't fill out the forms correctly, but I did (according to the benefitsandwork guides), and I still got 0 points. My assessor's report was ridiculous. 37 mistakes, many of them really big ones, such as that I have no input from a psychiatrist, no community mental health team input, and had been discharged from the pain clinic months before the assessment. I see an NHS psychiatrist at least once a year, but usually 3-4 times a year, I'm under the care of the NHS PD community team, and my next pain clinic appointment is March 22. He also said that I have no suicidal ideation, and don't self-harm. All of this was stated in the assessment (I recorded it covertly) and was in my forms and my further medical evidence, which included an A&E Liason Psych Service report saying that they had evaluated me when I was brought in by ambulance for self-harm and high anxiety. He clearly didn't bother to read any of it, and nor did the original Decision-Maker or the DM who did my MR. 

They didn't do their jobs, any of them, but the assessor pisses me off the most. In the past 7 years I've been refused PIP and ESA 6 times, taken it to Tribunal 6 times, and been avoided both Daily Living and Mobility, at either standard or enhanced rates. 

An FOI request which the government refused to fulfill for over a year, even when instructed to by various bodies (until a judge made them do it) contained data showing that about 130 assessor's (mostly ATOS, but also Capita) had 3-4 complaints made against in a 3-month period. They weren't disciplined. 

Why should they be able to do this to us? There must be ways to fight back.

@maid08 I'd love to have a chat with you...

*avoided = awarded in post to @Victoriad,
and=any in post to @PippaScope. Fat fingers today!

Hi @Victoriad,

God, what a horrendous GP! I'm so sorry that happened to you!

The DM's letter didn't mention that they had asked for any evidence from my medical people (in fact, all she mentioned using was the assessor's report, which is hilariously bad, and is completely disproved by my form and further medical evidence). Would they have to mention that they contacted my medical people, or write it down?

This is pretty par for the course; it happens every time. And every time I go to Tribunal and they overturn the decision. Twice the Tribunal Judge has actually apologized to me, and said that I shouldn't have had to go through it, as the DWP's case was laughable. If it helps, my disabilities are all invisible, 3 of my conditions are mental health conditions, and all of my conditions are highly variable (Recurrent Refractory Major Depressive Disorder since I was a teenager, Generalized Anxiety Disorder since I was a teenager, Borderline Personality Disorder (diagnosed in 2010, I think), and chronic lower back pain with associated sciatica, paralyzed muscles along my spine, curvature of the spine, pain in my hip because of limping/curved spine causing my hip joint to grind, associated mobility problems, and (the worst part) acute muscle spasms, which lock up my left lower back, left buttock, left hip, and left thigh, causing (often severe) mobility problems and pain from 7 - 9.5/10. I ended up admitted to hospital for 5 days of IV morphine a year ago for the worst spasm ever. I wrote out how my disabilities affect me for every descriptor, and linked them to my medical evidence, but you don't want to read all that.

I'm not always as bad as I am right now, but in the past year I was evicted and was homeless for 2 months, I had to give away many of my possessions, my mother got very sick for 6 months, I've begun having what may be IBS attacks, etc. etc. Then I got that brown envelope, and lost my sh*t entirely.

So yeah, I should be getting PIP. I will get it. But in the meantime I'm a mess, in serious pain, and borrowing money off my partner every month, to the tune of a few hundred pounds. I owe him thousands at this point. It's all made me more and more ill. I've had 8 colds in the last 4 months, the flu, and shingles (whee).

I'm trying to remain philosophical, which has been a bit easier the past few weeks, as I cracked a few weeks ago and haven't really been able to feel (or do) anything but read forums and play Civ IV (badly) since then. Unfortunately the emotions are coming back...