Atos Healthcare Disability Assessment

What a Claimant Can Expect Before your assessment

You may be asked to complete a questionnaire about your illness or disability before you are invited to an assessment – if required this will be sent to you.

You may be contacted by telephone to arrange the medical assessment. We will try to arrange a convenient date and time with you. Your appointment letter will provide a contact number and further information to help you find the assessment centre.

It will be helpful to think about the following before your assessment:

Any relevant information and key dates in your personal medical history.

How does your medical condition affect you in daily life? What are you able to do and how do you do it?

Does your condition vary day-to-day or over periods of time? What are good days and bad days like?

What is the difference between what you can do and can’t do?

If you have a condition that affects your mental health, please try and tell us how this affects your daily living.

What a Claimant Can Expect

Crackdown on Welfare    Corporate Public 'Services'    Pathways to Work    Welfare - Workfare

Patients & Claimants

Another way to work

DWP

Atos wins extension to Choose and Book contract

Time to inflict pain on the terminally ill

Mark Steel exposes the Atos scandal in his own inimitable way ...

The ATOS system has worked so well that in the past three years 160,000 people have successfully appealed against their decision.

So from now on perhaps they'll use a more reliable method, such as rolling two dice and anyone who gets eight or over loses their money.

Or they could still call people in for interviews but do three at a time while the assessor lines them up and goes, "Ip dip dog shit, you are not it", and the loser has to crawl to the job centre.

The trouble is that these tribunals have cost £30m (and you'll laugh at this bit), and that money is paid by the Government, out of taxes.

So they still get paid the £100m, out of taxes, and all the mistakes are paid for out of more taxes.

It's like a minicab firm that always takes you in the wrong direction, but you still have to pay them, then they charge you again to bring you back where you started. And to complete the analogy, on the way home they run someone over and shout:

"If you can stroke a cat there's nothing wrong with you", as the victim is carried into the ambulance.

So here's my suggestion.

On live television ATOS are called in for an interview by a panel of disabled people, who ask them to mime looking after their pet, then assess whether they're entitled to still get £100m or have to go and get a proper job.

Ind  27 July 2011    Marginalising the Disabled    Welfare 'Reform'

Marginalised

Fit-to-work tests a 'flawed process'

Welfare to Work policy 'casts the disabled as cheats'

Fit-to-work tests a 'flawed process'

The report states: "It is widely accepted that the Work Capability Assessment [WCA], as introduced in 2008, was flawed.

This has been borne out by the high number of appeals and the high success rate of appellants.

It was also reflected in the amount of evidence from individuals which expressed grievances with the way they were treated during the process and the accuracy of the outcome."

The MPs estimate the cost to the taxpayer of these appeals at around £50m a year ...

The report highlighted concerns about the number of testing centres that were not accessible to people with disabilities.

"It is unacceptable that disabled people should be called to attend an assessment at a centre which is inappropriately located, inaccessible to them or where reasonable adjustments cannot be made to accommodate special requirements arising from their health condition," the report states ...

Gdn  26 July    Coalition Log    Welfare 'Reform'

Cutting social security by stealth

Social Security payments would fall with new inflation gauge

Work capability assessment is assessed, and found lacking

Speaker after speaker at the public meeting at Burnley football club gave negative accounts of their experience of being tested for eligibility for the new employment support allowance ...

The [work capability assessment] test has been vigorously criticised by charities such as Citizens Advice and by a government-commissioned independent review, saying that the process is impersonal, and ill-equipped to gauge the seriousness of mental health conditions, or the nuances of complex medical problems.

One by one, individuals outlined the difficulties they had experienced.

"I just seemed to be a number. The health professional didn't know what one of my conditions was," one man said.

One woman described the frustration of trying to get in contact with the Atos headquarters to query her assessment result, stating she had dialled the number "about 125" times.

"There's a recorded voice saying, Sorry, all our advisers are busy. And the line goes dead."

Others said the large number of appeals meant a long wait for cases to be heard, and in the meantime they were allocated the lower rate of benefit, £65 a week, rather than £91.

"I am waiting for a tribunal, but I'm told that it won't be before June, because there are so many people waiting. I'm stuck on the £65 benefit until then," a woman with ME said ...

Guardian  07 Mar 2011

Lax benefit rules not responsible for high disability figures

The number of claimants of the benefits that became IB soared from fewer than 600,000 in 1975 to just under 2.5 million in 1995.

That the figure then broadly peaked, at the very time IB was introduced, has been seen as proof of the laxity of the system that preceded it.

Berthoud says things are not so simple: a fuller examination of data shows "little sign" that changes in benefit rules influenced the ratio of IB payments to disability disadvantage.

There is also, surprisingly, relatively little correlation between the employment chances of disabled people and the business cycle, despite the widespread assumption that the fastest IB growth was stimulated by the industrial crisis of the early 1980s.

There is, on the other hand, a strong correlation with regional economic variation, with disabled people in Scotland and the north-east consistently having least chance of work.

The principal data analysed by Berthoud is the annual General Household Survey, in which people are asked to declare any "limiting long-standing illness".

He finds not only a clear rising trend until the mid-1990s, but also that most of the rise was accounted for by people with more severe impediments – suggesting that the growth in IB claims reflected a genuine increase in numbers of people with disabilities in the population as a whole.

Guardian  19 Jan 2011    

Trends in the employment of disabled people in Britain

Precarity – the Causes and Effects of Insecure Employment

State-funded idleness: 1.5m are spending fifth Christmas in a row on sick benefits

Implementing the Washington Consensus with Paul Dacre, social Darwinist

Figures released by the Department of Work and Pensions expose the shocking degree to which a generation of Britons has abandoned work for a life ‘on the sick’.

The statistics show that almost £66billion has been paid out in incapacity benefits alone over the past five years ...

Some 1,478,010 long-term claimants have been on £91.40 a week all that time. A further 500,000 have been claiming it for between two and five years.

The Government believes half the 2.1 million on incapacity benefit could work.

In a sign of how even the young are becoming accustomed to relying on benefits, 468,000 of those who have been claiming incapacity benefit for five years or more – one third of the total – are under the age of 45.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling seized on the figures as evidence that the Coalition is right to demand incapacity claimants undergo a medical assessment to see whether they can work.

"I am on Incapacity benefit and have a genuine need. If I had not been through the system myself (ATOS) and seen for myself that lies are told and things twisted to try to get people off benefit" - tina, london

Same here, I've got written evidence of this and I've been through hell because I have some mental issues and no help, that aren't further being helped by repeated kangaroo court medicals (15 mins with one doctor who cannot be a specialist in every field and who is not a psychiatrist) and the a many months later overturned by an appeal panel (usually three professionals).

The medicals are paid for by results and even if overturned by the appeal panel (which 70% are) they have their money.

- Mark, London, 28/12/2010 11:27

Daily Mail  28 Dec 2010    Crackdown on 'scroungers'    Welfare to Workfare

The Perfect Storm?

ESA: It Doesn't Add Up

Citizens Advice Bureau

New benefit system ... forces sick and disabled into work

Incapacity benefit tests face overhaul after damning report

Claimants feel unfairly treated by 'impersonal and mechanistic' tests, says independent review ...

The review, conducted by the academic Malcolm Harrington, an occupational health specialist ... found that the assessments, run by a French multinational, Atos Origin, which received £54m from the coalition government for the contract, failed people with mental illnesses and long-term disabilities.

One form which claimants needed to complete ran to 28 pages and almost half "found the questionnaire difficult or impossible to complete".

Another problem was that people were characterised by "descriptors" within a computer system that relied on questions apparently unrelated to work.

In one instance people were asked whether they had "loaded a dishwasher or washing machine" that day.

"It does not bother to ask whether the claimant has a dishwasher or washing machine. That is the danger with computer systems and drop-down menus," said Harrington.

"We want to rely much more on healthcare professionals and assessments."

He pointed out that 40% of those found fit for work by the system appealed and won – and added that 40% of people who went in front of a judge did so with "additional medical information" ...

Guardian  23 Nov 2010    Cracking down on welfare    'Mechanistic modelling'

These cuts aren't building a 'big society'; they're tearing it down

Two welfare workers describe how the coalition's cuts will undermine their clients' already precarious livelihoods ...

Atos, the company being awarded contracts to find many unfit people capable for work, has a long association in doing assessments of claimants both for IB and DLA.

It does not have a very good reputation in my line of work.

I have attended a number of medical assessments with clients and have had to explain the term "bipolar" to an Italian professional and "Asperger's" to a Greek one – neither of whom seemed to have heard of the terms before, yet here they were passing judgment on my client's fitness to work ...

RedMiner
5 November 2010 5:38PM

Here's some more information you won't read about in the Daily Mail or, for that matter, the Guardian, unless it's been posted by a blogger.

Remember Chris Grayling has indicated he intends to make it even more difficult to pass the Work Capability Assessment, an assessment that, in Danny Alexander's words before he became a Government Minister, is responsible for 'tens of thousands' of wrong decisions, and was 'incentivizing' to find people fit.

The fit now include the terminally ill, and people with all manner of serious illnesses.

___

DISABILITY DENIAL FACTORIES: Detailed research has confirmed that this medical assessment system, employed by Atos Healthcare, is based upon a successful and very similar medical assessment system in place in America, as demonstrated by an insurance company identified as UnumProvident (US).

This company, in a California class action lawsuit in 2002/03, was identified by the Judge as operating "disability denial factories" and fined US$31.7 million.

Nevertheless, the former Chief Medical Advisor to the UK government, Professor Mansel Aylward, was instrumental in advising the UK government to set up these medical assessment centres based on the model in America, and he is still funded by the same American company used in his example, with his research centre in Wales funded by UnumProvident (UK).

Indeed, his research centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research is based at Cardiff University and Professor Aylward is the Director at the "UnumProvident Centre."

Professor Aylward was also instrumental in how the new Welfare Reform Act was to be implemented by the DWP.

UnumProvident (US) is actually banned from operating in several states in America.   [Justice 2008]

MEDICAL EVIDENCE RESISTED: Further research has revealed testimony from doctors working for the company employed as disability analysts, as well as former staff doctors who resigned from Atos Healthcare, as they were not prepared to compromise medical ethics for a profit margin to the distinct disadvantage of the sick and disabled claimants they were expected to examine.

Their evidence confirms frequent staff meetings wanting details of average time taken for patient reviews, and writing the reports, but the company never discussed patient/claimant welfare.

Doctors at Atos Healthcare are rewarded by the quantity of medical assessments undertaken, with some doctors earning as much as £5,000 per WEEK.   [ATOS_Veterans]

Guardian  05 Nov 2010    Crackdown on Benefits    Cutting the Deficit

Purnell can't have it both ways

Is Labour abolishing illness?

Unum Provident

Three-quarters of incapacity benefit claimants are fit to work, says DWP

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures showed that 78% of the 842,100 people reassessed were either fit for work or had closed their claim before medical assessments were complete.

The government is pushing ahead with the programme of reassessing those on the old-style incapacity benefit.

It plans to cut back the wider benefit bill by £18bn ...

Meanwhile, three of Britain's churches accused the chancellor, George Osborne, of exaggerating the scale of benefit fraud in last week's spending review speech, pointing out that official figures were lower than the £5bn claimed by Osborne.

Government sources insisted the inconsistency arose because the chancellor was including the amount wasted through error in his lump sum. The president of the Methodist Conference, Alison Tomlin, said: "Exaggerating benefit fraud points the finger of blame at the poor.

"Let us be clear this recession was not caused by the poor, those on benefits, or even benefit cheats." ...

Guardian  26 Oct 2010    Crackdown on Welfare

Benefits to be replaced by 'universal credit' scheme

• Universal credit will guarantee unemployed are better off taking jobs than staying on the dole
• Iain Duncan Smith says scheme will save £9bn a year ...

HelenWilsonMK

Why do ATOS use non British doctors with little or no English skills to assess incapacity claimants?

Do you not think the inability to be able to communicate and comprehend gets in the way of effective diagnosis especially when the claimants have mental health issues?

Do you think its fair to expect a claimants to travel 50 miles or more to attend assessment centres?

Should not all the above be handled by a claimants local NHS with a doctorunconnected to the claimant?

Guardian  01 Oct 2010

Guardian  01 Oct 2010    Crackdown on Welfare    'Reserve Army'

Talk of government deal over benefit reform downplayed

Labour may back coalition single benefit plan

Millions to have benefits replaced with 'universal credit'

Labour needs middle classes, says David Miliband

NABIL 7 hours ago

Last time we looked, it was the working class readers of the Daily Mail and The Sun who dumped Labour (more precisely New Labour) big time...

and I still wish to hear the position of the Rt Hon David Milliband, MP, and for that matter of all the other Labour party leader contenders as to their position and the role of New Labour in facilitating the collusion of the DWP and UnumProvident whose funding for Psychosocial and Disability Research based at Cardiff University, was a plank for pushing those ill thought out welfare reforms and the coincidence that the Director of the Centre is Professor Mansel Aylward, then Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Work and Pensions...

This leading to contracting ATOS Origin who started operating a "disability denial factory" for the sick, disabled and long term ill, despite the company having helped in funding the research to be fined against for malpractice to the tune of 8 Million USD in the US.

Will the Rt Hon make a statement about this, as an interested party, and Labour member, I do not wish to vote someone who was an accomplice in bringing so much misery to genuine claimants, costing so much to the tax payer through ATOS Origin incompetence, and not doing anything when advised that UnumProvident who advocated and devised the vetting programme had such a poor and scandalous history in the US...

As for ATOS Origin and the DWP, their lack of professionalism is illustrated further with Atos being proud to publish that they wine and dine many senior staff in the DWP and the DoH at their AGM and elsewhere.

Now, how important is it that the DWP should be present at a contractor's AGM?

Unum refunded millions in the US. Atos SHOULD refund the UK taxpayer millions in the UK.

As you are not a member of this government, but were a member of the previous government that implemented this nasty operation, I hope it will be your intention to correct what your colleagues James Purnell, John Hutton, David Freud et al. did.

A similar stand is expected from any of the other would be leader contenders...

I will cc this to the official Labour Blog soon too...

My apologies if I publish it first in the comments section of a newspaper, but we are used to that, as a legacy of the bad habits we had when known as New Labour.

Independent  22 Aug 2010

New benefits system forces three-quarters of claimants back to work

Nearly four out of 10 (39 per cent) of the 686,500 applicants for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) have been judged able to work since the replacement for Incapacity Benefit was introduced in October 2008.

A further 37 per cent stopped their claims before their assessments had been completed.

Only six per cent of ESA claims (or 40,100 cases) from October 2008 to November 2009 were judged to have such severe disabilities that they were eligible for payments of at least £96.85 a week and exempted from work programmes.

A further 14 per cent (or 96,700 cases) were judged unable to hold down a full-time job and received at least £91.40 a week, but were forced to take part in work schemes.

One in three of those judged fit for work appealed against the decision and four in 10 appeals (21,200 cases) resulted in victory for claimants ...

There are 2.2 million people on incapacity benefit and 136,800 now on the new ESA, costing a total of £14bn in 2009-10.

However, campaigners believe the new system is flawed.

Laura Weir, of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, said: "Under this assessment system, more and more people are being found 'fit to work' when in fact they are living with severe health symptoms and disabilities.

"The assessment needs to be independently reviewed to take into consideration long-term, fluctuating conditions with 'hidden' symptoms that are being overlooked, such as fatigue and pain.

We need better-trained staff carrying out these assessments, who are aware of the complex nature of conditions like MS, and more exemptions for people with the most severe symptoms."

A spokeswoman for Citizens Advice Bureau said:

"We have grave concerns about how the work capability assessment for the ESA is working. We have seen cases where medical evidence has not been taken into account. Seriously ill and disabled people are being found fit for work." ...

Independent  28 July 2010

Scrap Atos Origin

This quango earns £80 million plus a year from the DWP to assess claimants for benefits medically.

Many claimants are very disabled, have had months of treatment and surgery and are still under the care of NHS surgeons and GPs yet the DWP in their wisdom still ask for ATOS assessments.

The assesments are made by so called professionals who have been on a three day training course. Some are doctors, some are nurses aome are simply clerks.

I know of numerous cases where the assessment has been so innaccurate and incorrect that appeals have been made.

Many of the appeals have been upheld but no one fines or deducts money from Atos and claimants are not given an explanation from the DWP, only from Atos.

The DWP simply send out forms and start the whole ridiculous process all over again.

This system is another Blair/Brown totalitarian nonsense that second guesses NHS surgeons and GPs in an attempt to catch people who are genuine claimants and prevent them from claiming benefits..

It is a bureacratic muddle; form filling and red tape nonsense costing well over the £80 million ATOS get.

The DWP and appeals tribunals and lawyers are all paid by HM gov as a result of employing ATOS.

Surely experienced surgeons and GPs are far better qualified to make an assessment than the idiots I have encountered in Atos.

I am about to sue them for damages and for falsifying reports and for gross incompetence in assessing my case wrongly. I hope I am not he only one.

This cost and red tape nightmare needs to be purged immediately.

Your Freedom  18 July 2010

Employment & Support Allowance

Cost of medical assessments by Atos Health 01 March 2008 - 28 Feb 2009 = ££80,589,204

Atos Healthcare cost to taxpayers

Control of Atos Healthcare

Sack Atos Healthcare - Petition

'Shifting control from employees to management'

Too ill to work ...

Martin Crowson told staff at the benefits office that a crippling knee injury meant he could walk no further than 50 yards - netting him £17,000 over three years. But when officials saw the former soldier's holiday snaps, they realised they'd been conned.

The 53-year-old seemed far from incapable - and on his expensive family holidays, he did a lot more than lie by the pool. In Florida, he wrestled an alligator and in Tunisia he rode on a camel ...

Daily Mail  28 June 2010

Welfare crackdown begins

Previous attempts to cut back on the cost of funding incapacity benefit, now claimed by around 2.6 million people, met with major criticism. A new system introduced by the last government to assess whether or not the sick and disabled were capable of working wrongly found seriously ill people ready to work, according to a report in March by the Citizens Advice Bureau.

People with advanced Parkinson's Disease or Multiple Sclerosis, with severe mental illness, or awaiting open heart surgery were registered as fit to work ...

Guardian  28 June 2010

They can't take jobs that aren't there

For whom the Poll tells

They all say it is far too easy to get sickness and disability benefits.

They are wrong, have they actually tried to claim benefits? have they actually had a look at the rules and regulations DWP healthcare professionals can apply to DLA claims?

Have they ever had a letter from a decision maker, based hundreds of miles from their home, who has relied upon the opinion of a “Doctor” who judges your level of disability without examination, consultation or any other form of contact with you on the “balance of probability”.

The balance of probability? its unreal!

Its time to change the system for the better, its time to change the draconian rules used to assess a persons level of disability in this manner.

Its time to say, “No, you can’t ignore the evidence from G.P.’s, Specialists and experts”.

Its time to say “you as a “Doctor” are bound by the same laws governing the NHS and as such are liable to suffer the same consequences as they would under Law when you are wrong”.

What about the huge number of people who battle with the DWP for a year or more for DLA or other benefits to which they are rightfully and legally entitled?

ITS NOT EASY TO GET DISABILITY BENEFITS AND I DEFY ANYONE TO PROVE OTHERWISE ....

wordpress.com  01 May 2010