The People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment (link to report)
Anticipating the publication of Professor Harrington’s third (and, for him, final) annual review of the Work Capability Assessment, the WeAreSpartacus group have published our own review, from the lived experience of the sick and disabled people going through it. The People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment includes the experiences of more than 70 claimants who have been wrongly assessed, humiliated, badly treated and forced to go to tribunal to secure the benefits to which they are legally entitled. The review also highlights press reports of some of the claimants who have died after being found fit for work or whose suicide has been linked, at least in part, to the stress of a process which is essentially abusive, demeaning and not fit for purpose. In the final section of the review, we examine what has been said about the WCA by the Government, MP’s, courts, professional bodies, medical organisations and individual medical professionals. This section includes full references, including replies to Freedom of Information requests, so readers can check the facts for themselves.
In July of this year, investigative journalism from Panorama and Dispatches exposed the suffering experienced by claimants of Employment Support Allowance (which replaces Incapacity Benefit) going through the WCA process. The documentaries also revealed something of what goes on behind the scenes at Atos Healthcare, who undertake the assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. MP’s have raised concerns about the experiences of their constituents; questions have been posed to Ministers; debates have been held in the Commons; the British Medical Association, medical professional bodies and charities, both large and small, have 
condemned the process; the National Audit Office has highlighted the waste of money from unnecessary appeals; and disabled and sick people have been working continually under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to expose the suffering and hardship they’re experiencing. But still the process continues; neither the Department for Work and Pensions nor Atos Healthcare have been held to account.
The People’s Review needs to be shared far and wide; it is a comprehensive analysis not only of people’s experience, but of the policies and activities behind the scenes which reveal the objective reality of an assessment process which needs a radical overhaul, for the sake of disabled and sick people – and for our country, which cannot afford to fund a broken system which costs much, much more than just money.
(An accessible version is available for download from: http://wearespartacus.org.uk/wca-report/)
Last but not least, if you have your own story to tell about going through the WCA, please feel free to share your experience in the comments section.
How dare they treat people like this.
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Like many people on benefits it’s not my choice to be ill and suffer a limiting condition, whilst on Incapacity Benefit I’ve always tried to find work I can cope with or create work I can manage but my condition won’t cooperate with me. What I have done is create products that are helping thousands which in turn have create offers of work, unfortunately 3 hours a day 2 days a week ended my last permitted work trial after a fortnight. At my last appeal I told the panel what I had tried to do and how several companies were willing to employ me if my condition improves, at every medical and appeal I’ve been honest about my health but the assessors frequently lied, thankfully being honest at the appeal overturned the decisions. They dare to treat human beings like this because the media has been used to alter the true perception of disability, most cases that are found fraudulent appear heavily in the news yet we rarely hear of those who win their appeals and the way the state treated them because had their been balance in reporting then public perception wouldn’t have been warped.
I want to share my story but am too afraid to do so – I’ve had trouble passing WCA, had multiple (successful) tribunals but live in constant dread of the next time. I don’t trust them to not connect the dots, identify me and use it against me, so my voice feels stolen.
I am sick, I’ve been getting sicker since the process began. My doctors are no longer sure how to treat me since I can’t escape from the persistent threat that they are coming for me and the never-ending acutely anxious state it creates. My condition has been getting worse and further co-morbidity diagnoses have been added. My life is in tatters, my treatment is compromised. I’m not getting better because the WCA is in the way.
And I can’t tell anyone because I’m sure they’ll hold my ability to fight back as proof that I am able to function when I’m not.
“I’m not getting better because the WCA is in the way.”
That statement should be quoted everywhere.
Well done but perhaps a little proofing wouldn’t go amiss; “badly treated and forced to go to tribunal to secure the benefits to which they are entitled under by law.”
I’d change that last bit to simply read ‘to which they’re entitled’ or something similar.
Thanks – changed to ‘legally entitled’ – much better! Thought we’d proofed everything, but so much to do over the weekend!!
I have been put in the support group but nevertheless wait in fear for the next so called assessment. This is despite having a progressive illness that cant be cured. Hard enough to live with that let alone worry about the future. Several of my disabled friends have failed the test and lost all money, its making us worse not better.
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Put in the support group , sent forms again ten months later for a long term decades old disability. Have really struggled to get these forms done in the short time they give you and you cant get thru on the phone, waited on hold twenty minutes but needed to sleep after that.
Worried that my massive effort to get the writing done might be used as evidence against me that I could work. It’s nonsense I’ve crippled my arm writing massively overdone it and will need a month to recover.
To scared to leave my name. This year I was put straight in to the support group without a face to face assessment, but i know im lucky because basically its just a lottery. Last year at my assessment, the assessor didnt take or even believe about my mental health problems and that was with having my cpn there. the assessor lied on the medical report, much to the shock and disgust of my cpn. The assessor also had no experience or knowledge of mental health. I was put in WRAG but after reconsideration placed in the support. We are not saying we shouldnt be assessed, although its complete nonsense re assessing those whose illnesses arnt going to improve. We just want a fair assessment and to be treated with respect and humanely. The current assessment does none of those. This assessment is harming people who already struggle with illness and there no question will and is having an impact on the NHS.
I was migrated straight into the WRAG without a medical assessment. There’s no question of me being ready for work in a few months’ time. I requested my medical report and even ATOS acknowledge I won’t be fit to consider a return to work for ‘at least’ 2 years. Nonetheless, my ESA will be stopped after 365 days because I’m not in the most severely disabled category. I’m terrified of appealing in case they change their minds and withdraw even this temporary benefit. The Jobcentre system doesn’t seem remotely equipped to give any help beyond pointing in the direction of job websites. However, if I were to apply for a job, I’d have to lie about my state of health and pray there wouldn’t be a medical. Too sick to work, but not (currently) helpless enough to keep my benefits. In other words, screwed.
I wish I could add my story to the Spartacus report. I have recently had a horrendous experience at an ESA appeal. It has taken nearly two years to get to this point, but my appeal was disallowed with 0 points despite letters and evidence from a Psychologist, G.P. Consultant Psychiatrist, prescription certificate etc. The tribunal panel was very confrontational and seemingly dismissive of my evidence. Despite being very anxious and distressed, the panel continued to ‘cross examine’ me and got stuck on confusing issues which had no relevance…. (ie. arguing with me about why I was in receipt of the care element of DLA and why there were 2 letters from my psychologist with 2 different dates on.) I do supported ,permitted work, 2 hours a week, supporting other people in a peer support capacity. They got stuck on this too and seemed to find this confusing. ‘Why, if I was able to support others 2 hours a week, should I say I was not fit to work? ‘ Because I only work those 2 hours and I am supported to do this by a Senior Charge Nurse. This seemed to be dismissed.
I was told after the hearing by my Welfare Rights Officer that this was the ‘most confrontational tribunal he had so far attended’. He also said it seemed to be ‘the luck of the draw’ which panel you got….. Surely procedure and behaviour of panels should be universal and regulated, and not a gamble? I now have to reapply for ESA with a fresh claim and try again. This process may take another 2 years. If I go onto JSA, I will probably have to give up my 2 hours work as I will be worse off. This is a situation I find unacceptably and ridiculously unfair and bordering on a breach of my human rights as a physically and mentally disabled person. I am back in the ‘revolving door’ going nowhere, except worse.
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Absolutely brilliant report. Well done to whoever wrote it. Thank you so much. We know it was someone seriously ill who took the time and trouble to do this on behalf of alls of us and that is a huge debt of gratitude and thanks. Tells it how it is, not how the politicians and media want the public to believe how it is. This is the ONLY report MPs need. Having read it they should all, with a few exceptions, be totally ashamed of having done nothing to stop this macabre and sadistic attack on the most vulnerable people in society and for allowing the lies to prosper. Labour should also be totally ashamed that they have not spoken out to the media to condemn this because they are afraid of losing votes from a public who now believe workshy scroungers are endemic.
Also writing as Anon because we are all too afraid of this government’s tactics against the very sick and disabled.
Sending the police around to someone’s house at midnight just to intimidate them for writing about the WCA on Facebook is something that should be shouted from the rooftops in a supposedly free society. I never thought that I would have to live in fear of our own government in the UK. What has this country become?
My experience of the WCA was the outrageous length of time it took to process my transfer. Many,many months. All that time spent living in fear of every time the postman came or the phone rang. Nightmares, sleepless nights, constant anxiety and stress – all made my conditon worse and took away from efforts to try and build on improving things for at least a slightly better quality of life. My condition is long-lasting and incurable, I will never be able to work. Yet despite abundant medical evidence it took so long and a medical to decide what could/should have been decided on the paperwork alone. This is a scandal on the face of any decent society, made all the worse by the deliberate and constant mis-briefing of the press.
This government is entirely responsible for leaving disabled people to live in fear, poverty and even homelessness and death. It is also responsible for the scale of propaganda which has infiltrated the public, so that now they feel they have the RIGHT to assault disabled people in the street, mutter insults or even question them on their disability.
This assessment is costing far more than it will ever save, with knock on effects for CREATING even worse health problems, GP visits and hospitalisations. To be disabled now means having to think whether you dare even leave your house, to make plans to end your own life, to feel that you don’t have the right to live and that your existence is worthless. This country, its people and its politicians should be ashamed of what they have turned this country into.
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it,s like the writing on the wall!!
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“This assessment is harming people who already struggle with illness and there no question will and is having an impact on the NHS.” — yes definitely.
My mother has had all payments stopped, and it has been recommended that she goes on job seekers. Some days she would not be able to make it to the job centre at all. Because of this lack of money, she has had to move in with an abusive ex-partner, which makes her illnesses worse. Her only other option that she has been offered is to move to a hostel/refuge which is miles and miles away from her children. I personally only work part time and trying to help her support herself has also put me in debt.
I really don’t know how they think they can do this to people. Aren’t benefits etc supposed to be a safety net to help people who would otherwise be in the most desperate of situations?!
*rage*
its without doubt that this company is killing more than us than any other party atos the lands of the lies because as you go through that door you will be found fit to work and that is bad enough initself bt then todeny you benefite time limited anothe rback door they just want us gone why didnt they just put us on the path way to death atleast this way there is no suffering for us thus releaving giving them more monies to give away to their mates like emma who awards herself 8.6million in bonuses its this whots happening with the two face torys who every day use atos dwp to take away our benefits jeff3
I too am not ill enough for benefit but really struggle with working. Head injury and spinal injuries. I got my year and then everything stopped, i then lost some tax credits, total monthly loss circ.£450. I sti;; have bills to pay children to feed and clothe and i really do NEED a car because i am miles from the nearest town and only get a bus service 08.30 am into town and back twds home at lunch time on tues and thurs.
Meds mean i cant always drive, vision problem mean i cant drive at night if it raining or snowing because my eyes follow the rain/snow and i cant conrol it. I was lucky enough to get 7-10 hours work a week, I cant do the housework, ironing, struggle with shoppingand cooking because i am so worn out by it all.
The rest of my life has gone to rat crap and i am now on the max dose of my meds because of the added pain etc. but hey at least i am not on benefit and i am working.
The good news is that i have to buy my own stamp because i dont earn enough for the employer to pay it, i need 3 years continuous work or stamps to be able to claim again and 8 yrs stamps to get my pension.
Feel like i am being hit from everyside.
I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to compile this hard-hitting report. Like with the original Spartacus Report, no doubt you have made huge health sacrifices with your own illnesses and disabilities, in order to put together the research. This excellent report deserves the widest possible coverage. Sick and disabled people desperately need and deserve justice.
Thank you so much. Please share far and wide as you’re able to!
I had a humiliating experience at my WCA and my diagnosis and treatment regimen were basically ignored (I blogged about it here: http://purplepersuasion.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/what-rabbit-hole-have-we-fallen-down-my-experiences-of-atos-work-capability-assessment/). My decision (0 points, again I described the ridiculous nature of the process on my blog http://purplepersuasion.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/and-the-score-from-glasgow-is-nil-points/) was made at the start of August, it’s now mid November and no word about my appeal…
I remember your story – it must have made an impression on me! I was so shocked I showed it to my MP, who is sympathetic but useless… but for a Tory, sympathetic is good:). I think the queue for appeals is very, very long – there are lots in the queue because the tribunal service can’t cope!
Thank you so much for putting the hard work into compiling this report.
I am writing anonymously, since I am fearful of any possible consequences of me being identified.
I was put into the Support Group last month, after three months of panicking every time post came through the door. I was asessed at home by a Doctor who stayed no more than ten minutes.(My GP wrote to ATOS telling them I was unable to go to the asessment centre). He said he thought I should be put into the support group, and that I would be. I found that hard to believe as I was discharged from the Mental Health Team last year (Consultant Psychiatrist said “I don`t know what to do with you, now”) and from Neurology two years ago, since the medication I was put on seemed to make some difference to neuropathy.
The guilt I have felt since being put in the support group is awful. Do I deserve it? Why do so many other `more deserving` people not get it, and end their lives? Then there`s the anxiety about how long it will be before I have to go through the torturous form filling in and asessment again. I also recieve DLA and am fearful of the impending asessment for that, too.
Paranoia, Increased dissociative periods, crippling anxiety, fear are the affects of the asessment process that for me lasted only six months in reality but is building up hugely and culminating in the return of Clinical depression.
Still waiting on my appeal to be dealt with, put it in April Im told ive got till Feb to wait. Almost 12 months waiting for a date. I scored 0 points at my medical, gave citizens advice bureau the same info and they found 59. Lets see if my appeal goes through, I doubt it very much as they will have to back pay me since they stopped my benefit. Far cheaper to deny my appeal and me to put a new claim in which no doubt as last time i had to appeal will go through first time!
I absolutely agree with everyone and particularly empathise with “No Says” – my illness was ‘physical’ but after two Atos Medicals, a confrontational Tribunal (miles away in travelling distance etc., etc., I had a relapse, health became much worse and I have had emotional problems and depression ever since (nearly four years ago) and have to take sleeping pills, beta blockers and anti depressents on top of an increase in my ‘usual’ medications. It’s tough enough being ill and having the illness wreck one’s life – but being put through the psychological ‘wringer’ – has made waking up every day a nightmare of fear, anxiety, depression and complete loss of confidence. (What I really can’t understand is that my Dr. signed me off work a few years ago (do the DWP/Atos not trust his opinion – and yet give Dr’s more control of budgets) I also had a ‘proper’ Incapacity Benefit Medical – my illness is incurable, and yet so many of us still have to go through this process.
Every day more and more cuts are threatened, I don’t know what we sick people are to do, regardless of what another person says, we know whether we are sick or not, and the sicker we are, the more trapped we are. There has been so much ‘bad press’ in the media and the way government spokespeople refer to sick people, that I am now frightened to go out of the house and too frightened to use my wheelchair outdoors (I can walk well sometimes, but at other times need the wheelchair around the house. Sorry this is so long, thank you SO MUCH to the people ‘standing up for us’
At the end of a very, very long day, launching this Review, I’ve been reflecting on some of the comments added. It’s heartbreaking to read of stress, trauma, anxiety, desperation, pain, illness, poverty… and I wonder for the thousandth time why the Government can’t see the truth. We have no choice but to keep going.
Can I suggest that everyone sends a link to this post to their MP; ask him or her to read the comments and then read the report. Ask them to let you have their thoughts when they’ve done so, and ask what they will do with the knowledge they’ve gained.
We’re in a long battle. My view is that our victories will be small and slow in coming, but that in the end, whenever that is, we will start to see change. What I still can’t get my head around, after all this campaigning (and others have been at it much longer than me!) we’re still wondering whether anyone will really LISTEN. Whence our so-called civilised Western society? Never have I been so disgusted to be British.
The only thing we can’t do, is give up. I know that’s easy for me to say but much harder to contemplate if you’re really struggling to keep your head above water. I don’t presume to know what it’s like to be on the edge; I salute those who are but who carry on anyway.
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ive heard government ministers like grayling say many times, supporting evidence from GPs, specialists, consultants and anyone else involved in someone’s care, is taken in to consideration when deciding which group one is put in or to decide a fit to work decision. so why have atos? why waste a million a year on atos if this is the case??? the truth is, most atos employees and dwp decision makers are ignoring the supporting evidence and either judging them fit to work or putting them in wrag when they should be in the support group. its all about reducing the benefit bill and they dont care who suffers and how badly as long as the welfare bill reduces.
That’s it, the form has arrived, the process begins again. Each time I win, but it’s not comforting to know that. All dignity is lost, all privacy is lost. And the treatment I should be getting is all swept from the table because I now need to be treated for the stress of coping with his inhumane process. I am sick, they make me sicker. What do we have to do to make them listen?
I have been on Income Support for a number of years now, my last assessment was in 2009, and this was a paper assessment as I scored the requisite 15 points based on the evidence I supplied including letters from my G.P. and Consultants. I have several chronic conditions that are in the most degenerative in nature, there is no ‘cure’ (even with the miracle of CBT) and without some major medical advances will not get any better. Since my last assessment things have got worse not better.
Much the same as other commentators I have been dreading the brown envelope, every time I heard the drop of the post my heart beat that little bit faster and my stress levels shot up. Stress the thing I need to avoid in order not to have a relapse. At the beginning of September that brown envelope arrived. It took me almost the whole month to complete the form with its double negatives and confusing layout. If I tick cannot walk more than fifty metres is that with or without severe discomfort and pain and did it mean repeatedly and reliably or once in a day? and then the next question can I walk/mobilise more than 100 or 200 meters, did I need to tick all of them or the the one that applied. Can I lift my hands above my shoulders, can I pick up a £1.00 coin????? what this has to do with my ability to work I don’t know.
Once I had completed my form I sent my ‘proof’ including from the pain consultant who in his own words… ‘I cannot offer this woman anything, she clearly has many disabling and chronic conditions of a long standing nature, which is further complicated by her many allergies and intolerances to pain medications again as a result of her conditions…’ and it goes on
Less than a week after sending in my form I was called for an assessment. I suspect that my form wasn’t even read and that I have been called in for an assessment as a matter of course. This was confirmed to me by the fact that two weeks later my G.P was contacted by the DWP. Surely this should have happened before being called in for a medical! But then ATOS get paid per assessment so therefore it is in their interests to call as many people as possible to them. Nice work if you can get it!
I could not attend the first date due to a death and consequently funeral in the family. The person at the end of the telephone line was confrontational and said I could not cancel again! I reminded the person that I had requested my medical, (correction, assessment) be recorded and again was stating that I wished the assessment to be recorded. He was clearly exasperated by this and said well here’s your next date but it might need to be cancelled because YOU want it recorded.
The brown envelope duly arrived with the next date and again my stress levels increased. Why, because I feel that it will be a pointless exercise where I will be declared fit for work, after all plenty of other people whom I consider to be worse than me have been. I dream about the assessment where I say to the ‘assessor’ lets cut the crap and save both of us some time..you will say I am fit and I will appeal, job done. My friends reassure me that it will be obvious that I will be placed in the support group and to not get so stressed as I am making myself sicker with worry!
My assessment date was this Monday, on Friday evening I was contacted by phone, despite not giving my phone number, to be told the assessment has been cancelled because there is no practitioner available to be recorded and they will contact me again with another date. I have translated this as there is no assessor willing to be recorded as they may be caught out in their lies. And so the stress continues. I can feel a relapse round the corner am worried to death that I will have to appeal, which I know can take up to a year. Even if I get placed in the work capability group I know that this will only be for a year before the process starts again and if by some miracle I am placed in the support group I will no doubt be reassessed soon afterwards. If I have to appeal and win I also know that I will be called back in and reassessed. It’s like a never ending treadmill of abuse.
I didn’t choose to have this body or to be living in poverty. I would have loved to have lived a ‘normal’life but unfortunately this is my package and I have to deal with it. Likewise I didn’t choose this Government, that is directed and driven by outdated dogma, nobody did, but unfortunately I and many other sick and disabled people have to deal with it!
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iv been suffering with my nerves since 1980 undergoing GP treatment i also have osteoarthritis in my hands feet elbows and spine also have vertigo and diabetes 2 irritable bowl syndrome at 51 years old not as bad as half the the population to witch i consider my self to be one off the lucky ones in health and managed to work up to 2010 wen i had a breakdown for the 3rd time and was suicidal to where i am ashamed of it and i cant cope with stress or changes in life its self ATOS well where do i start im on my second appeal because im fit to go to work scoring under 0 points yet im medically sighed off i think it is disgusting how this government system scoring assessment works ??? unfair and in human and dose not cover mental illnesses i feel worse over all this than my coping with life and my illnesses its so degrading and makes me feel inhuman & so worried
I too had to have an ATOS Medical, and nothing that she wrote was what happened, they make you feel about an inch tall and make you feel like you are “just putting it on”, I have Ishmeic Heart Disease, I have a stent fitted and a further blockage in the same artery. I also suffer from hypertension, Oesteoarthritis in my lower back, hips, knees, shoulder, elbow and hands, which some days I cant even pick up a cup and last but not least Asthma/COPD, I have been under the doctors now for my chest for the past 2 months and I cough constantly, I have had steroids and antibiotics, but they are trying a different antibiotic this time to try and control it, I get very breathless, and spend days in bed sometimes because I am so exhausted. These Atos people are paid to get people off the benefits and they get rewarded for it, so hence I was awarded 0 points, I now have two appeals on the go, one for ESA and the other for PPI, this is making me ill, but luckily I have some help. As for the “bedroom tax”, I am in a specially adapted bungalow, I have two bedrooms, and because of the constant coughing and being unable to turn over properly my partner sleeps in the spare room, but this is not taken into account, who do these MP’s think they are
they lie, cheat expenses and nothing is done about it, they have two homes, how many spare bedrooms do they have, perhaps if my partner got a job away from home, would they give up one of their bedrooms so that he could earn a good weeks wage, I certainly dont think so. I often wonder where this is heading, but I cant see me being fit for work unless they make me bionic and replace most of my body so that I can get around properly. Good luck to everyone that has to go through these appeals, keep smiling! I was taken off Incapacity, but then had to send in a sick note! Hmmm, this is beyond thinking about.
Having been in contact with the Welfare officer who has helped me on three occasions, two at tribunal, one with successfully filling in the form, I was told that – due to budget cuts – I would have to ring a number, speak to their officer and see if I was able to pass a “triage” to see if they could even help me. And if they can it will mean beginning again, with someone who doesn’t know me, doesn’t know my case and who will need to hear me repeat every part of my illness – goodbye any last tattered remains of dignity.
Stress levels are peaking now and I’m starting to have some cognitive distortion. I can barely speak on the phone, let alone feel I can discuss my problem that way.
And I am aware of the paradox that the people I have to fight also pay for and organise the means by which I can fight them. And now the game is even more rigged than it was before.
Literally physically sick from this and this is after only opening an envelope with dread.
Reading these ‘real life’ situations is akin the watching the most gruesome horror film you could ever imagine.
The people who carry out these so called ‘assessments’ should hang their heads in shame, and this government needs to removed by the electorate as ‘not fit for purpose’.
Why on earth do the LibDem’s support these barbaric practices?
The WCA test is factually, morally, & economically wrong. The stress to disabled people is incalculable, & most who go to appeal win their case. Over 1,000 found ‘fit for work’ have died since leaving ESA. Taxpayers foot the bill for this disaster; the closure of Remploy guarantees that there will be no supported work for those who could work under the right conditions.
I had an assessment for my Incapacity Benefit 2 years ago and I got the letter saying it had been stopped with only 2 points scored. I normally would score 18 or 20 points so I knew then that Atos are fiddling it. I won my appeal but now the prospect of migrating to ESA is making me so ill I can barely function. The bedroom tax coincides with the month I am due to be migrated to ESA and I literally believe I won’t survive it.
This society victimises the sick and disabled , the government should be ashamed but has no shame. I will be assessed under PIP replacing DLA; DLA keeps me mobile working and engaged. What’s happened to my tax and NI contributions over 30 odd years ?
Okay, Atos, as expected, have cut me off, so what do I do now? I was struggling to live with no money or quality of life before they awarded me only 6 points and took away my ESA today. I had two rare lung disease (Legionnaires [nearly died] and Acute Pulminary Histoplasmosis [was bedbound for a year]) I now have PVFS and am in constant pain and am really weak, I am unable to move atall maybe 1 in 4 days… I wont be able to work as much as I need the money how can I hold down a job when I’m sick. what do I do. Wasn’t able to afford any christmas presents again this year, wont be able to live at all now?
I’ve been linked to this site but I find reading hard and need someone to help me with this.
Please someone help me.
Dom
I’ve worked all my life up until 18 months ago when I developed chronic spinal and leg pain,leaving me unable to do the simplest tasks for myself, sometimes for weeks on end. Despite heavy duty pain medication, I’ve not had one day without suffering severe pain and a decent nights sleep.
Having worked all my life, I was so glad that there was a benefit system that I could turn to as a lifeline.
How wrong I was, it would have been easier getting blood out of a stone. If it wasn’t for my 80 year old mother sending me money in the post, I would have starved to death. and been homeless by now.
I had an ATOS ‘medical’ in which I was assessed by someone with no medical qualifications. She took my blood pressure, and tested my eye sight, and asked a barrage of stupid irrelevant questions
Before I left the medical, I asked why she had tested my eyesight and blood pressure, as they weren’t the reason I was unable to work I didn’t get an answer to my question, so then asked why she wasn’t examining my spine and leg, and she told me she wasn’t qualified to do so, and that’s not why I was being assessed.
When I received my medical report I was so angry, as there were so many blatant lies told about me.
According to her report, I climbed up on a step onto a couch where she examined my spine and leg. There was NO couch and NO step in the room.
I was awarded 9 points, to which I appealed straight away, but had to try and survive the best I could on reduced ESA for 10 months until my appeal was heard.
Not easy when you’ve got a mortgage, bills and food to pay.
To cut a very long story short, the court awarded me 21 points, and a recommendation that I wasn’t to be assessed again for at least two years. ( a huge difference from my ATOS medical )
I’ve been in agony since my appeal, as the court, which mainly deals with ESA appeals, for the sick and disabled, had NO disability access, and I had no option but to struggle up stairs, which I can’t do due to the pain it causes me. Eve the disabled toilets were locked. God help anyone in a wheelchair that’s got to attend their much waited appeal at Sutton.
The entire system, from beginning to end is a complete farce, a complete and foolish waste of public funds, and all it does is alienate and humiliate disabled people, taking the very last shred of dignity from them for having an illness or disability,through no choice of their own.
Your story, as so many others, is dreadful. I’m a bit shocked you had to walk upstairs at the Sutton tribunal building, though, as I had a DLA tribunal there in 2009 and I used the lift – I use a powered wheelchair so there would have been no other way to get to the tribunal room. I wonder whether their lift was out of order when you attended – that’s the only explanation I can think of, unless they’ve changed the building they use since 2009.
There’s so little help out there for people who are so sick and have to appeal their decisions. I feel so bad that we can’t do much more than just do the research and put the information out there, but there are only a very few of us involved in this network and we’re all sick ourselves!
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“How dare they treat people like this?”
Cameron’s doing this so there are people like his son, Ivan, and his father, Ian, to keep them company. Especially since he will no longer be joining them after his own death. That’s *my* theory, anyway.
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This complete system is a farce. I have ME and a report from Dr Woods who writes the NICE guidelines stating that I am not fit for any kind of work up to and including the age of retirement(I’m 58 and retired from a teaching career). Dr Woods is one of the UK’s leading expert on ME and has a full and thorough understanding of the variable nature and the debilitating side effects and outcomes of this condition. After a failed appeal by ATOS I was deemed fit for work, this was the summing up by a ‘health professional’ who was ticking boxes, then the humiliating, contemptuous appeal process where I was driven to tears by their bullying behaviour and I suffered a massive relapse afterwards (even though I had no idea of the condemning decision they made)the whole interview was frightening and unfair in the extreme. How dare these people set themselves up as experts!! Even after a letter to both the Prime Minister and the Minister for work and Pensions where their reply was total waffle and excuses and they could not answer my simple question of:- when I had a report from a top ME consultant why was it totally ignored? I am quite clear and will tell you why now…. They don’t care! If I died from a massive stroke, which is highly likely if I went back to work there would be one less claimant! Sorted!
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Definition of a civilised society “having laws and customs that are fair and morally acceptable” Guess that this government does not believe in a civilised society – does middle england really want to sink into chaos?
Anyone of reasonable intelligence should be able to assess someones mental capacity, if they cannot, they shouldn’t be doing the job and getting paid for it.
Hi, I printed a paper copy of the People’s Review of the WCA and posted it to my MP ahead of the Public Accounts Committee hearing with the DWP over their contract with Atos. I wanted to be sure he wouldn’t overlook this, and a comprehensive and weighty document is more impressive than asking him to click a link in an email. To his credit, he wrote back to me immediately. Quote:
“The report does make for interesting reading and unfortunately I am dealing with many constituents adversely affected by this process.
Whilst we would all wish to have a system which required people to work where possible, it is crucial that any system is fair, transparent and professionally carried out. I believe the government’s only driver is its wish to reduce the benefit bill at any cost.
We in the Labour Party, have called for a review of the present system, and highlighted problems but it appears that the Lib/Tory coalition is not prepared to take action required to address the present shortcomings in the review process.
I have written to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee asking if the report will be taken into account when investigating the management of the contract.”
I’m not sure yet how to respond to this response, if at all. It’s not entirely satisfactory in my opinion. However, the report speaks for itself and I would urge everyone to share their experiences and send a copy of this report to their MPs and ask them for their thoughts so they know it has been read.
Thanks so much for that. Whilst none of our MP’s respond just the way we would want, the response you’ve got is better than many have from their MP’s. You did well to do what you did and every time an MP writes to the Public Accounts Committee or similar it builds up a picture.
I’m fortunate enough to have reasonably good health and am currently working. I just wanted to say, some of us are listening, reading your stories, becoming wound up, bewildered and bemused by it all. I support you, I know so many that do and it’s only a matter of time before this kind of corruption is so obvious and embedded in public conciousness, even the media won’t be able to ignore it.
Thank you so much for that, Dave. Whatever you can do in terms of helping others to see what’s happening and using whatever contacts you may have to raise the profile of this issue, we would all very much appreciate. It is encouraging that people like you, who are not presently affected, are starting to see what’s happening to those who haven’t been fortunate to be in reasonably good health. We’re very grateful.
I have a history of mental health problems way back to childhood, I worked very hard until my mid 30′s
I rarely go out the door these days(there’s a name for this condition i find hard to write) I was told 2 years ago i was HIV positive and I took an overdose of sleeping tabs and I was sectioned for a few weeks.
My last overdose was 3 weeks ago after having my 3 round of ESA benefit forms arrive, just a brief history of my condition.
I first joined this merry-go-round of constant ESA forms 2 years ago, strangely I’m told stress is bad for my condition and so I just seem to get worse.Firstly I was placed into the work related group because I was unable to attend their interview even though my GP etc had written them in good time requesting they visit me at home.
It was 8 months later my appeal was granted and placed the support group, and just a week later when the new ESA form dropped on my doormat, and so the process began again, and here I go 3rd time around living in fear of JSA.
It’s really not about the money for my needs are very few,I am careful not to have to heating on unless it’s really needed etc. I live on basic food, life really is about getting by ‘one day at a time’
Human rights? I’m bitter and angry and Atos/government may get me on the slab yet.
I am choosing not to take the medication for HIV.(if you post this you may wish to remove that line)
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A victory for all your hard work: http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/2012/12/debate-on-atos-in-chamber-of-house-of-commons-now-likely-next-month/
“I have been sent an excellent critique of the failings and harshness of the present system by a resistance group appropriately named on their website as http://www.wearespartacus.or.uk“
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I recently received a letter from my MP regarding a copy of the People’s Review that he sent to Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts. Her reply to him – quote:
“I am writing in response to your letter of 19 November regarding the PAC inquiry into Welfare to Work.
As you may be aware, on the very day that you wrote your letter to me, the Committee took evidence from Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary, DWP…
…While our inquiry did not specifically look at the People’s Review of WCA, our monitoring of this scheme will not doubt continue and the Committee would welcome any observations that they might make.”
It’s clear that the report is being taken very seriously by (my MP) Margaret Hodge and the PAC.
i recently had medical and was not suprised to find that i scored o points (i have friends and neighbors that have worse conditions than me both mental and physical who were declared fit for work). what did suprise me though was when i read the report they sent with the letter i seem to have been “edited”. i realise that you cant put down absolutly everything that was said but one would hope that they would at least put the main details as i had told them.
i have problems with depression and anxiety which means i have periods when i get very down or sometimes very stressed which can lead to hurting my self. like most people it is not my lifes ambition to living off of income support all my life but to find some sort of balance so that i could maybe work part time and spend the other days going to support groups etc to help with my problems. i am at the moment doing a part time course in horticulture because i enjoy working with plants a it helps to deal with my problems because it makes me feel usefull and if im having a bad day they let me have time out to deal with it.
when i had my interview i told the nurse everything, all the good and the bad. when i read the report it seems that they had cherry picked the details i had given them. all the positive stuff got included, eg: doing washing occasionally, attending college (probably got minus 1 million points for that!). but all the negative parts were either changed so they didnt seem so bad or simply not included. for example when i told the i would OFTEN get stressed or anxious it came back as OCCASIONALLY. I also told the interviewer that i had recently cut my arm, even showed them the marks and some how this didnt even make it into the report.
im not sure if we are allowed to do this but i would suggest to anyone to has an assessment coming up to take a dictaphone or voice recorder and record the interview so that you would have some evidence of what was said in the interview and see how different it is from the report.
Anyone wondering who are shareholders and partners in ATOS ?, have a look and then ask yourself why they cant put in recording equipment into all there offices. Might also be a good idea to see who has an interest in the company and there associates. For a company to last so long and fail so hard its a wonder why it has not been looked into by an independent body into why so many people are dying and killing themselves when faced and dealing with this company.
We need to find out the inner workings of ATOS and why its so clandestine in its operations when its ethos is too help disabled people get a fair award but wont tell us how it got too the decisions of these awards. It wont say why the fail rate is so large and why the appeal rate and winning back your award is so high, these things just dont add up on reading. I would go as far too say that they are wasting tax payers money to make a profit and not helping the uk people at all.
We really need to bring these failings to the public eye like all the tax dodging companies that are spread across the papers but we cant talk about how this company is costing us millions of pounds and killing people to boot…. seriously we need better people in Parliament to do what we pay them too do and that is too defend our rights against companies like ATOS.
Began to suffer from depression and alcohol problems while doing research at Cambridge in the 1990′s. Two years spent in bed before I realised I was suffering from depression. Had a breakdown & suicide attempt in 1997. Managed to keep myself going, but unable to return to academic work. I was on Income Support – contrary to what is claimed now about easy it was to get benefits and no-one ever checked up on you, I was called up twice for independent assessments. Later I was able to get DLA too – this too was reduced after two years, and I won an appeal. This was BEFORE the present reforms. I came off means-tested benefits because I inherited a part share of my parents’ house, which I dutifully declared.
Then, at the beginning of 2011, my capital dropped below £16,000 and I applied for ESA. Since then, my mental health has deteriorated because of the stress. I had my first Atos assessment in August 2011 – declared ‘fit for work.’ DWP wrote to me only a couple of days after the assessment – they clearly just rubber-stamped what Atos had said. My doctor and my CPN told me it was a waste of time giving Atos a medical report – they told me (from their own experience), ‘They don’t even bother to look at them.’ Appealed – tribunal met in May 2012, at which I collapsed in tears the minute it started. The tribunal awarded me WRAG rather than Support, which I didn’t realise until DWP got in touch with me about six weeks later. Went to meet adviser at JCP, where I burst into tears all over again – she said it was absurd that I was in WRAG and I ought to be in Support. In the meantime, Atos called me up for a second assessment in November. Ended up breaking down in front of the receptionist at my doctors’ surgery. My doctor put me on tranquilizers for a week, which calmed me but slowed me down, getting up at 3 or 4 in afternoon. The assessment came round this December, where I broke down once more, veering between tears and losing my temper. No word from either Atos or DWP again since then – and I remain on WRAG. I have to see the adviser at JCP again next week – the very person who told me to appeal for Support last year!
I am 52 and my chances of gaining meaningful work – even if I thought I was up to it – are pretty much nil. The whole process of reform (supposedly meant to improve people’s lives etc.) has been to make me feel worse, more angry, more stressed, and more depressed. My doctor wants to get me back to the reasonable condition I was in two years ago i.e. before Atos & DWP ‘started work’ on me.
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I had a car accident in 1982 couldn’t walk, talk as I had a severe head injury and a total weakness to the left side. I have been called every name throughout my life associated with having a disability – school was a complete disaster. I have had operations on my head, stomach, I have a weakened use of my left arm, hand, leg and foot. I also suffer from High blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma I also have fibromyalgia which affects my disability as I have pains going throughout my bones constantly everywhere in my body. Especially in my back, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, legs fingers and toes. I have been diagnosed with bi-polar syndrome caused when I was an employee in the NHS due to managers and staff bullying me, causing me stress and I an still under the psychiatric department from their mis-treatment I got a letter stating that my mobility and care would be denied. I was straight on the phone and really told the helpline what I thought of the decision as no one had observed the state which I am in like so many others have to go through daily. I think they just thought I am a scrounger and a liar which I clearly am not and whoever thought of that idea should be charged with defamation of character. I have self harmed before and the decision for denying my claim for both claim and mobility being denied made me immediately want to do myself in for good, I’ll say it, to show how unthoughtful and injust the changes have been to people and I thing the government have seriously got to reverse their ideas. They are cruel, immoral. I got a little sum for care but seeing I am going to be housebound soon with my disabilities. To top it off my mum has alzhieimers and parkinsons disease and my dad has had prostrate cancer and severe spondulocis and angina.
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My ESA report from Atos was full of lies, I am awaiting tribunal, if I didn’t have my husband I would be one of the suicide statistics. The way I am being treated is disgusting.
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Am about to go through this hellish experience. Have a long-term, chronic muscular complaint – basically ‘sciatica’ – which has only been recently fully diagnosed. The first shock to the system was the NHS. When I tried to explain to my doctor that I was claiming for ESA the response was “What’s that?” ‘Well it is for people unfit for JSA’ – “What’s JSA?”. I got the same response from NHS Direct: “We don’t know anything about benefits [sic] you need to speak to the DWP”. How is anyone supposed to progress with a claim when the medical profession themselves don’t seem to have the least idea of what ESA entails, I am shocked basically. So instead of discussing a patient’s condition & requirements the patient has to deliver a lecture on the government’s benefit system, if the doctor has the time to listen. I am also horrified by what I have read here but it begins to match up to the utter indifference to suffering that I am starting to detect quite widely now. What sort of society is this which is growing up around us, I hardly recognise it. Atos: a firm sourced from elsewhere – a private company? That’s a further undermining of the NHS, no wonder they are out of the loop, they haven’t even been included in it. Nothing in this system sounds as if it is remotely joined up in any way?
My treatment by the DWP has worsened my long standing anxiety disorder. I have been put into the wrag esa group and am awaiting my first mandatory interview. I can feel it’s effects physically- weight loss,increased insomnia, constant state of dread. It feels like ethnic cleansing/ genocide by this heartless government. Perhaps they will soon consider branding us with a mark on our foreheads as further public humiliation?
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I have had 2 assesments with these people and as a result have been left with cronic depression and almost killed myself 3 times they are not fit to be called Healthcare and am hoping the Judicial Review results will see them out.
I am sick off how they carry on, they don,t read medical eveidence so why say on their invite letter to claimants bring eveidence with you, Cameron and Clegg you have blood on your hands and people will not vote for you in 2015.
I had a really big relapse last year lasting 9 months. I did not put in a claim for ESA for fear of being put on a WCA. As I have been really lucky and worked since my initial illness 20 years ago I was scared of applying for benefits for fear of being told I was fit to work. The government may think this is a good thing as I have saved them money but my response would be that they have set back mental health carfe in the UK and again enhanced stigma. Shame on them for being a totally target driven government who hits those who are down. I hope my fear of applying for benefits will be recorded as I am sure I am not the only one.
I had 6 Medicals with ATOS in a space of 16 months; feb 2011-june 2012 each time placed in the WRAG group
I’m 61 with a rare inoperable bone disease[avascular necrosis of the talus]
I use a wheelchair because I can’t walk.
I’ve worked all of my life ’till I was 60 had to give up due to ill health.
Any way ATOS asked me to go for a medical in June 2012 I felt really fed up with all this so I rang to say I wasn’t
attending so DWP stopped my NI credits immediately. I hadn’t received any payment since May 2012 due to the
changes made by our Rip off Britain Government!
Forgot to mention I get my State Pension in May @61 and 7 mths. Am I the only one who’s looking forward to getting OLD!!!
I have come to see all of this somewhat later than some people, I didn’t use the Internet much and wasn’t on Facebook, I have just been told I can’t appeal the decision of me being placed in the WRAG despite the fact I had the points for the support group, because my appeal went to an aggressive and humiliating tier two tribunal and you only have 13 months to appeal at this level. I found out about my ESA being stopped after one year via a rude telephone call from the DWP last Feb, they have had the papers till this week and now I’ve been told its too late to appeal, so that’s it for me, apparently I remain in the WRAG, but I’m not entitled to any money but, they will continue to pay my National insurance contributions. I am due to renew my DLA, , but it will be PIP. It nearly broke me last time, I’m scared to go through it again, I’ve supported friends and family through their appeals but I can’t do that anymore, its every man for himself, I’m warning anyone I know who is suffering to get on the bus and help if they can, spread the word. Im not sure I can put myself through it again.
Well i got better and im onto this for what its worth. If our politicians wont serve us then they can go somewhere else where the sun dont shine.What else are they here for but to serve us the people? Welfare reform will change in the next few months because the people are waking up and questioning pur values in parliament.Live to see the bullys become cowards,wait in poverty and distress to hear the words you long for.As your sister,I wont allow you to be alone and unloved. You are precious,take heart.
Reading all these comments on here saddends me i feel so so sorry for you all,, yes im disabled what is wrong with me is not relevant ,, but i just read a article about remploy the govt closed the places down putting thousands of disabled people out of work ,, saying it will save millions of pounds so they can invest on putting disable people back into the workplace having any disabillity is bad enough but but just how many firms , shops , factorys , offices, have ammenitys for say electric wheelchairs ive yet to go to my local supermarket and see someone in a wheelchair stacking shelves or someone on crutch,s laying bricks on a building site
ato,s get real none of the interveiwers are capable to make deciscions on ones health or disabillity the sooner they go the better, ive not been called for a asessment yet but i know its going to come im dreading it to be honest the humiliation of letting someone assest me then lie on the awnsers is beyond me
I would recommend that people take a look at the channel 4 dispatches programme in which a Doctor became a whistle-blower because he did not like what was happening while he worked for atos, he recorded his dealings with them, including were he was told to lie about peoples illnesses, so they would be thrown off benifits. atos contract with this goverment states that they have targets to meet in so far as removing people from benifits, although they will not admit this. I had my assessment recently in which I of course failed, I requested to see the report under the freedom of information act, I was shocked to see that the nurse who carried out my assessment had lied, undersatated or omitted large parts of what I told her in that assessment. If I had recorded (audio)that assessment as I you are allowed to do, and found that the assessor had knowingly misrepresented my verbal answers then you could have had them up for perjury!!!!!
Please dont feel intimidated by these people, treat them with the same contempt as they treat you…this goverment has grouped everyone on benifits into one group which they call “the lazy, good for nothing scrongers” they leak reports to the press about the small number of people they catch that are screwing the system, and use them as a means of justifying this unwarrented clear-out of people on benifits no matter how ill they are, look in the dailt mail, almost every day in this tory paper there is a story about a benifit cheat…….its a pity they did not do the same when it came out about MPs cheating on their expences, which they had been happily doing for years, there were very few MPs that did not do this, they saw as a perk of the job.
I am gathering information for an appel to send off to the Court of Human Rights, which states that you cannot be forced into doing something which is detrimental to your well-being, if more people did this the goverment would have to change this disgusting system run atos.
Having gone through all the indignities listed in all the posts above, and having considered ending it all on more than one occassion, I have come to the conclusion that David Cameron and his millionaire cronies don,t give a monkeys about the welfare of people like me aged 64 who have paid their dues for their whole lives. The history of our illnesses are totally disregarded, even when supported by our GP.
They have, and still are, using the extreme right wing tactic, of devide and conquer through propaganda in the media.
Like the brand “strivers or scroungers” its so successful that even some of us are half believing it.
I have had my 365 days of ESA and have recieved no benefits since April 2012.
I just wonder why we as a group do not get together and seek our human rights collectively.
Seeking human rights seems to work for terrorists and preachers of hate, who would probably be able to qualify for legal aid in persuit of it.
This government have taken, my dignity, my confidence, my belief in a fair and just society,
The one thing they have NOT been able to take from me is my vote, but wether I will survive till 2015 remains to be seen.
If by some querk of fate they get re elected, we could possibly be branded with a Jewish symbol, and suffer the same fate, as already we are considered by some as “STOCK”
I have read all of the comments on here and am horrified by what is happening to the ill and disabled in our country. I am worried about being to outspoken as this will reflect on my husband.
My husband went to an assessment last September, I attended with him as support. The ‘nurse’ seemed friendly enough, even said you come from **** I used to live there, chatted about some of the things in this place, then said I see you do jigsaws!! Where this came from is anyones guess! my husband told her did not like jigsaws, so then the answers to all the questions included the fact he did jigsaws! She did not do any of the tests she was supposed to do, even stated on form tests were not done. Blood pressure machine didn’t work. Husband observed to stand without assistance, despite the fact he used a walking stick and the desk by which he was placed. I had a cough and she stated this was the reason she did not do any of the tests!. We thought that my husband was being assessed not me. There were other inconsistencies in the report,report came back 0 points. we had already visited our local CAB office to help fill in the original forms. so we went back to them with the report, and they helped us to complain about Atos and apply for an appeal, Atos did a review of the ‘Health Care Professionals’ advice, this came back saying basically they did not know why there was inaccurate information on the report. Meanwhile we had been dealing with a member of the Decision Making Appeals team at the job centre plus. She was very nice and very sympathetic to our case, when we rec’d the answer from Atos which they said had been sent to the dwp as well,( but they had not rec’d.) She wrote to us to say after full consideration of the contents of the letter from Atos, she decided the report was not fit for purpose. So benefits reinstated from last September,
but now have to go through it all again. Sorry forgot to mention my husband has a disintegrating disc disease, which the MRI scan shows affects all his discs from neck to lower back, bottom 2 virtually non existent, so this results in severe pain 24/7 on any movement or non movement.
So what I am saying is if you can take someone with you to the assessment and if they have told lies in the report then challenge Atos about the lies. But if you have good CAB office ask them for help as ours were absolutely wonderful in their help. As to Atos’s ‘Health Professionals’ having a full understanding of the patients conditions, she did not know what disintegrating disc disease was.!!!!!! yet she was supposed to be a nursing sister.
I HAVE BEEN ON LONG TERM INCAPACITY SCINCE BEFOR 1995, I BELIEVED THAT IT MEANT YOUR CONDITION WOULD ALLWAY AT TIMES EFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO HOLD DOWN A JOB, I HAVE HAD REGULAR MEDICALS OVER THE YEARS, CARRIED OUT BY PROPPER DOCTORS, MOSTLY SPECALISING IN YOUR TYPE OF ILLNESS.
I DIDNT HAVE A CLUE WHAT THAT QUESTIONAIR WAS ABOUT I WAS GOING THROUGH A VERY BAD PATCH, I JUST RECALL HAVING TO FILL IN YOUR MEDICATIONS AND WHAT THEY WERE FOR, I HAVENT NEEDED DOCTORS STATEMENTS FOR YEARS, OR CIRTIFICATES, SO WHY SHOULD I NOW?
MY LONG TERM CLAIM HAS ALWAYS BEEN FOR ALL THE DELIBATATING AND FRIGHTENING SYMPTOMS AND CONDITIONS OR DEPRESSION, ANXCIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, BUT APPARENTLY NOW THEY DONT EVEN EXCIST, THEY SEEM TO THINK YOU ARE ILLETARATE, HAVE NO EDUCATION, SPEACH PROBLEMS, THE ASSESSMENT IAM APPAUALED AT THE WAY SHE LIED AND MINIPULATED OUT OF ME WHAT SHE ANTED ME TO SEE, SO MUCH ABOUT A BACK PROBLEM THAT IS NIETHERE HERE OR THERE UNDERACTIVE THYROID, WHICH ACTUALLY AT MY LAST PROPPER MEDICAL THE DOCTOR SAID PLEASE HAVE A THYROID TEAST BECAUSE OF THE SYMPTOMPTOMS I WAS COMPLAINING OF, AND I WOULD LIKE TO THANK HER AS YES I DID HAVE IT, DIABETAS TYPE 2 APPARENTLY APPEARED UNDER CONTROL??? I THOUGHT A UNINE OR BLOOD TEST COULD ONLY SHOW THAT, IT IS UNDER CONTROLD THANKS TO MY EXTRA INCAPACITY BENIFIT THAT ALLOWS ME TO BUY THE EXSPENSIVE FOODS TO KEEP IT UNDER CONTROL, ALONG WITH HIGH CHALESTRAL, BUT ALL IRREIVENT AND ARE NO WAY CONECT TO MY MAIN CONDITION WHICH I WAS ORIGIONALLY AWARDED THE BENIFIT FOR.
IN FACT RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST DRPRSSION, BUT HEALTH FUNKTIONS PROVED NORMAL, I WOULD HOPE SO AS I AM HIGHLY INTELLIGENT, NO MENTION OF ALL THE SYMPTOMS CONDITIONS, NO MEDICATION, OR SIDE EFFECTS, I SAID I HAD TELPHONE APPOINTMENTS WITH MY DOCTOR AND MY MEDICATIONS DELIVERED, AS I DONT WANT TO GO OUT.
THIS WAS TURNED INTO SHEIS ABLE TO REGULAR ATTEND HER G.P APP, OF COURSE I AM, IAM SITTING IN A CHAIR ON THE PHONE,
THIS ONEMUST BE A DAM LIE, I SAID I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH NO ONE I OFTEN GO DAYS WITHOUT SPEAKING TO ANYONE I JUST WANT TO PULL THE CURTAINS AND I SPEND DAYS AT A TIME NOT WANTING TO GET UP, THIS WAS TURNED INTO, SHE REGULAR INTEACTS WITH OTHER PEOPLE AND MAINTAINS RELATIONSHIPS???? IT MUST BE SOMEONE ELES,
THIS ONE IS A BIG CONCERN OF MINE, I THINK THE LAST 4 YEARS HAVE BEEN THE WORST ME AND MY FAMILY HAVE EVER HAD PARTENER BEING MADE REDUNDANT HAVING TO WALK INTO A JOB CENTRE FOR THE FIRST TIME, THAT IS GETTING LEGAL ACTION, IAM GOING THROUGH THE MENOURPAUSE AND WHAT I WAS DOING WAS REALLY WORRYING, SHORT TERM MEMORY LOST, START SOMETHING WONDER OF START SOMETHING ELES BUT NOTHING EVER GETS FINISHED, I STARTED RUNNING A BATHER WITH ELECTRIC HEARS ON THE FLOOR AND FORGETTING IVE DONE IT ABOUT 8 TIMES IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS, I CAN NO LONGER USE THE COOKER, AS THE SAME AGAIN I WONDER OF LEAVE THINGS BURNING, IVE LEFT THE IRON ON FOR 3 DAYS, MY HUBBY AND DAUGHTER HAVE TO KEEP SHOUTING TO REMIND ME, THE ASSESSOR SAID WHAT DO YOU EAT THEN? SO I SAID MAINLY CEREALS AND THINGS I DONT HAVE TO COOK, THIS ENDED UP AS, ALL OF THE ABOVE COMPLETELTLY IGNORED AND TURNED INTO SHE MAKES HER SELF SNACKS.
WELL I THINK WHAT IAM DOING IS A DANGER TO MY SELF AND OTHERS, AND IAM NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSE, I FEEL THIS IS A VERY POOR MISCONDUCT OF THE SO CALLED MEDICAL EXPERT, PLEASE TELL ME IF IAM CORRECT.
BUT THIS ONE AGAIN NOTHING TO DO WITH MY MAIN COMDITIONION, I DO HAVE SOME DAMAGE TO MY EYES FROM DIABETAS, AND MY CLOSE UP VISION IS REALLY BAD WHICH I PUT IN THE FORM AND TOLD HER, MY LONG SIGHTEDNESS IS A1, AS I TOLD HER, HAS ANYONE GOT ANY IDEA WHY SHE THEN GAVE ME A LONG SIGHTED EYE TEST AND I WAS WAITING FOR HER TO GET SOME PRINT OUT FOR ME TO TEST MY CLOSE UP VISION, SHE COMPLETELY IGNORED ME AND IT WAS NEVER MENTIONED. APPARENTLY I HAVE PROBLEMS SPEAKING, NEWS TO ME, I HAVE PROBLEMS PASSING MESSAGES ON AS I GET THE TIME AND DATE ECT MIXED UP, AND IAM WELL KNOWN AT MY SUGURY FOR GOING THE WRONG DAY WRONG WEEK AND ALL SORTS. HOW DOES THAT MAKE ME HAVE A SPEACH PROBLEM? AND OF COURSE ON THE DAY NO SPEACH PROBLEM COULD BE FOUND, I CAN TYPE? IVE NEVER LEARNT TO TYPE IN MY LIFE IAM AFRAID ITS 1 FINGER ONLY OH I CAN USE A KEYBOARD, I DONT KNOW WHERE THAT CAME FROM AS MY IMEDIATE THOUGHT WAS. IVE NEVER LEARNT TO PLAY THE PIANO IN MY LIFE, WE NEVER HAD COMPUTERS WHEN I WAS AT SCHOOL, I CAN HOLD A PEN WITH AT LEAST 1 HAND, YES I WAS TAUGHT TO WRITE WITH JUST ONE HAND, OH AND I APPEARE TO GO AROUND FROM STRANGER TO STRANGER PASING MESSEGES THAT I CAN UMDERSTAND, YEAS I DONT HAVE A HEARING PROBLEM, AND THEN I DEAL WITH THESE STRANGERS, THERSE MORE ITS A STANDINDING JOKE IN THIS SMALL TOWN, THAT I GET LOST IN A CAR PARK, I HAVE 3 TIMES IN THE PAST PICKED MY DAUGHTER UP FROM SCHOOL GONE BACK TO FIND THE CAR GONE AND REPORTRD IT AS STOLEN, IT WAS JUST PARKED IN A DIFFERENT PLACE, I CAN NOT USE PUBLIC TRAMSPORT SCINCE A TRAUMATIC EVENT I WHITNESSED SOME YEARS BACK AND MY LITTEL OLD BANGER IS LIKE MY SUCURITY BLANKET, I LOCK THE DOORS AND FEEL SAFE, ON THE NIGHT OF MY 50TH BIRTHDAY MY NEW LITTLE P.REG BANGER THAT I HAD FOR ONLY 4 WEEKS WAS VANDALISED TO BE WRITTEN OF, I NEVER LEFT THE HOUSE FOR 4 WEEKS I COULDNT, BUT APPARENTLY I CAN DRIVE TO A STRANGE PLACE ON MY OWN, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW SHE GOT ME TO SAY THAT, BUT NONE OF THAT SO CALLED ASSESSMENT WHICH AN UNTRAINED CHIMP WOULD PASS HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE MAIN CONDITION THAT I HAVE SUFFERED MOST OF MY LIFE, AND I BEHAVE IN A MANOR ACCEPTABLE IN A WORK PLACE. I RAND THEM UP AS IVE BEEN CHUCKED OF. AND SAID CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME HOW MANY POINTS THE FOLLOWING ARE WORTH PLEASE;
AVOIDANCE AT ALL COST THAT CAUSES ANXCIETY.
EMOTIONAL OUTBURST, E.G LOST OF TEMPER CONSTANT BOUTS OF CRYING.
RESTLESSNESS. OR IRRITABILITY,
IMPUULSIVE BEHAVIOUR’
POOR CONCEENTRATION
ABSENTEEISM POOR PRODUCTIVTY
INCREASED ACCIDENTSPROBLEMS MAINTAINING RELATONSHIPS.
THEY ARE JUST A FEW, WELL SHE JUST SAT THERE IN SILENCE, THEN I SAID AND COULD SOMONE COMFIRM THEY THESE BEHAVIOURS ARE WELLCOMED AND ACCEBTABLE BEHAVIOUR IN A WORK PLACE? SILENCE
I THINK YOU WOULD ALL AGREE NO EMPLOYER WOUL HAVE THAT AND FAR MOR WORST THAN THERE SILLY LIST. I HAD ONE OF THEM THAT IVE NEVER HAD WHEN I OPENED THAT LETTER CONSTANT OUT BURST OF CRYING FOR 4 DAYS , TO ME ITS NOT THE MOMONEY ALTHOUGHT IT APPEARS IAM EXPECTED TO LIVE ON DUST, BUT THE LIES, MANIPULATION IMPORTANT AND WHAT CAN BE A DANGER IN THE WORK PLACE AND IVE TOLD THEM I DONT EVER WANT TO SEE A COPY OF THAT WOMANS REPORT AS I FEAR FOR WHAT I MAY DO, AND TO THINK A SILLY NURSE WHOES KNOWS NOTHING AND OFFICE STAFF SEEM TO BE FULLY QAULIFIED IN MESSING AROUND WITH PEOPLES HEALTH. PLEASE SOMEONE WAKE ME UP, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE IAM EMBARESSED TO ADMITT IAM BRITISH AND WAS ALWAYS PROUD OF MY COUNTRY AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER I DINT WANT TO EVEN BE IN IT.
SO NO MORE FOOD FOR ME TO KEEP MY CONDITIONS UNDER CONTROL, NO LITTLE CAR TO GET ME OUT THAT WILL HAVE TO GO AND I WILL NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE,
I HAVE NOW PUT ALL MY BILLS DEBTS ECT IN A BIG BROWN ENVELOPE ADRESSED TO IAN DUNDAN SMITH NO POSTAGE HE WILL PAY AT OTHER END, WITH A NOTE, SAYING YOU HAVE STOLEN MY MONEY AND LEFT ME TO LIVE OF THIN AIR AND DUST SO YOU ARE RESPONSABLE FOR PAYING THESE AS I DONT THINK THEY WILL ECCEPT DUST, IAM ALSO TELLING ALL MY CREDITORS TO CONTACT HIM FOR PAYMENT AS HE IS HOLDING MY MONEY, I WOULD URGE YOU ALL TO DO THE THE SAME, WE CANT PAY ANYTHING IF HE HAS OUR MONEY
JUST TO LET YOU KNOW WHEN YOU APPEAL YOU ARE GIVEN 1 MONTH FROM THE DATE OF THE LETTER BUT TO AVOID A BREAK IN YOUR ORIGIONAL CLAIM YOU MUST GET BOTH SENT OF A.S.A.P AS YOU REALLY ONLY HAVE ABOUT 3 WEEKS .
I AM SENDING MY GAREENTEEDED NEXT DAY SPECIAL SIGN FOR DELIVERY, BUT BIZZARLIY ENOUGH BENIFITS IMFORMED MED ME THAT CAN TAKE UP TO 5 TO 8 DAYS TO GET TO THIER OFFICE?????? I THINK SHE MEANS THEY LEAVE THEM AT THE ROYAL MAIL SORTING OFFICE AND COLLECT THEM ONCE AWEEK, IN THE HOPE THAT YET AGAIN WE ARE MISLEAD INTO THINKING ITS ROYAL MAIL, WHEN I HONESTLY THINK IF THEY ARE TAKING OVER A WEEK TO DELIVER NEXT DAY GARENTEED WOULD BE FIND, AND WE ARE EXPECTED TO BELIEVE THE BENIFITS OFFICE LIES ONCE AGAIN
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