Did You Suspect As Much?

[chrisgel]

A Doctor who was employed by ATOS has said that it's methods are unfair.
Dr Wood has criticised some of the tests which he says contain "dubious concepts and shaky reasoning".
He claims assessors are told that if a claimant can walk from the kitchen to the sitting room, it proves they can walk 200m (650ft); and if a person can dress themselves once during the day that is proof they have enough concentration and motivation to hold down a job.

[chrisgel]

Forgot the link sorry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22546036

[DJHawkes]

was this claimant living in buckingham palace?

[chrisgel]

Lol - It seems like it.

[Canary42]

... and did you know that 20% of the ATOS assessment centres are inaccessible to wheelchair users.

[Mamyalynne]

As far as ATOS are concerned, if you have a finger - you can press a button - you can hold a job.

[Spoonboy]

Tell me about it! I cannot stand for more than ten minutes without feeling excruciating pain, nor drive anymore, but have been informed that I could go to work in three months. My main back condition I have had since 1997 without any improvement, and to top it all, my right leg (which causes me so much pain) has been so since july last year. But, it seems that I will have to work and be hospitalised to prove that I cannot work. Go figure!

[emmie]

they are flawed assessments, and they get paid a fortune, Atos that is to process people like sausages. the centre i went to didn't have wheelchair access, the people in wheelchairs had to go away and go to another centre where they did have access, how absurd. There have already been a lot of criticism of their methods, mine was a nurse, who ticked the relevant boxes on a computer, which is essentially what it's all about, nothing to do with people at all... and by the way very little about mental health at all.

[albaqwerty]

Mr Alba had an appointment a week before he was due to undergo an operation.
He was fit for work.
Whole system stinks.

[emmie]

the anxiety put me back to a place i didn't think i would go, another breakdown. I told the tribunal which i had to attend this, and what i thought of their system, and still it goes on.. x

[WELSHYORKIE]

My gf was much the same em - as soon as she got the letter to go for the assessment she had a panic attack which took me about 3 hours to get her out of. She has had these attacks ever since she underwent chemo and radio therapy after cervical cancer

[emmie]

the people on the frontline, those who support them like welfare rights officers and others have been saying the same for ages, no one is listening.

[albaqwerty]

Mr Alba's benefits were stopped, I made one phone call to a department in the DWP and that was soon sorted.
The person at the other end of the phone was disgusted, especially as ATOS hadn't even taken into consideration the recovery time after the operation.

[ludwig]

I would guess that even though they're not working to achieve specific targets in order to get paid, the fear for them is that if they don't reduce costs for the government, they'll lose the contract for doing the tests.

That would be the motivation behind these allegedly shoddy practices. I don't have any personal experience of them.

[friedgreentomato]

Well I have met with ATOS several times and always find them professional and understanding.

[sandyRoe]

I wonder how many of their decisions are overturned on appeal? Even if most were the claimants would have been subjected to a lot of unnecessary stress and annoyance.

[LazyGun]

A lot, Sandy -around 40% and rising, apparently, of ATOS' decisions are appealed and the appeal is successful. And that alone costs the Govt £50 million, according to reports like this one, from the Daily Express;

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/379841/Rise-in-Atos-rulings-overturned-by-appeals

[chas2008]

been to a couple with my wife, you just knew its was stacked against you as soon as you stepped in the door..
My wife had to give up work due to severe arthritis hands,fingers,back legs etc. the 1st visit she only scored 9 points for her hands(shes virtually unable to hold anything,let alone walk), second visit 6 months later she scored 6 points for mobility but '0' for her hands !! how does that work when its incurable and is getting progresively worse.9+6 would have given some benefits.
Appealed and got a date for a hearing, to save hassle we wrote a letter explaining her reasons for appealing, they immediately rejected her appeal completely ignored our argument and stopped her benefits.

[jim360]

I tihn that figure is slightly misleading, LG -- a government source suggested that that is 40% to 45% success only in claims that are actually appealed against, which is three quarters of around a third of all claims. So in fact around 10% to 12% of all disability claims that are made are denied initially before being overturned on appeal.

[LazyGun]

@Jim - Sorry, caffeine not kicked in yet. Break your last post down for a bit will you?

Not sure how we are getting from this in the Express
"The rate of appeals is also rising despite a raft of reforms to the system. In the 12 months to March 2011, 127,000 cases went to tribunal of which 37 per cent were upheld.

Disabled people and taxpayers are still paying far too high a price for mistakes made in benefit assessments
GIllian Guy
The following year 168,000 appeals were heard and 65,400 disabled people (39 per cent) were successful."

To what you are saying....

[jim360]

The 40% itself is correct, but it's only a fraction of the total number of DLA/ PIP claims in the first place. So 40-45% of 75% of 1/3 of total claims are successfully appealed, or about 11% of the total (source: DWP internal source). So it's not really 40% of all ATOS decisions successfully appealed against but closer, as I say, to 10%.