Posted , 7 users are following.
I had a copy of my assessment by the Health professional, and the DWP awarded the same points and made exactly the same comments as the Health professional. So I wondered whether they are in fact obligated to do this?
0 likes, 13 replies
We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.
jackie79930 pamelaj1962
Posted
AlexandriaGizmo pamelaj1962
Posted
It also verifies this when you get the report from both bodies as they match.
Do struggle to see why it takes so long to give a decision as I got my text from DWP seven days after assessment and if its the case that report is the responsibility of say Atos/Capita and gives final score then decision is made?
les59996 pamelaj1962
Posted
The simple answer to that question is no they are not.
?The role of the assessor is to provide the DWP with an opinion. The same goes for any evidence that you send in or what the assessor may get from any of the people that care for you. All evidence is looked at and weighed. Then the DWP will decide on the balance of probabilities who should be believed more - the assessor or maybe your GP.
?In reality considering that the decision maker may only have 5/10 mins to make that decision he/she is more than likely to go along with what the assessor says because it saves time and they have actually seen & questioned you as opposed to someone who just sends in a letter. .
pamelaj1962 les59996
Posted
Well that kind of figures then! I sent in loads of medical evidence and it's almost like they never read it. It makes sense since they only send 5/10 mins on it.
les59996 pamelaj1962
Posted
The days of senior civil servants doing a job (no matter how long they take) to ensure that what they decide is the right decison based on the whole case are long gone.
?They are under extreme pressure and have to hit targets. As an example: pre 2008 in one government department (not the DWP) the hope was that they would clear say 12 cases a week. post 2008, that went up to 25 cases a week. Then they reduced the number of civil servants to try to cut departmental costs. In my own office staff numbers went from 52 to 16.
?So that meant the workload increased by over 100% with just over 30% of the staff having to do it.
?You can blame Osbourne for that!
?Obviously corners had to be cut to achieve the new target. Those corners meant that cases were not scrutinised fully leaving the only option but to go along with an 'in house' opinion and move on to the next case.
Ask any current civil servant what he or she thinks about the target culture as it exists today compared to what happened say 6/8 years ago.
erykah71 les59996
Posted
I agree with you Les about the target culture in the civil service as when I worked for a large govenment organisation and was relocated to outside of London I was the only one who went with it. I went from a team of 22 experienced agents to a team of 5 - me and four new recruits (who I had to train). It was very hard and the job I did was one which had to reach it's targets as there was no chance of having a backlog, but despite being put under immense pressure in sometimes very difficult circumstances the job got done correctly and in time.
I'm sorry but there is no excuse for DWP not to do it right - God we wait long enough for them to do our claims, what's an extra weeks wait if they're going to do it properly
erykah71 pamelaj1962
Posted
They are meant to take everything into account but like you the DM who looked at my PIP followed the assessors advice paractically to the letter.
The DWP aren't expected to be medically trained but I believe they just read the assessors report and dont bother wasting their time reading real medical evidence (believing the assessor to be competent)
For example, my medical evidence (GP & specialist), letter from carer and my 'how your disability affects you' form all said the same thing that I could walk no further than 50 metres for the majority of the time (usually less than this) and explained why and how my condition affects this, yet the ATOS nurse who admitted to me that she had never even heard of my condition and who only saw a snapshot of how far I could walk worked out and put in her report that i could walk 120 metres? I scored 4 points for being able to walk more than 50 metres but no more than 200 - Tell me how that is taking ALL available evidence into consideration.
If they used assessors who had an idea of certain conditions (my ESA assessor did and I had no problems) then they could ignore everything else and use the ATOS report alone but hey-ho this is the DWP
AlexandriaGizmo erykah71
Posted
I'm not sure how they work things out, I do know that if I fall short of the points I'm told I should get I will appeal, I can't walk 50 inches LOL so if they put more I want be impressed, I wish I could.
Will know by Wednesday so will just see what's put
pamelaj1962 erykah71
Posted
Hi
Thanks for your reply. Mine was the same almost word for word what the HP had said. If they had looked at the medical evidence they would have noticed that this was complete ........ rubbish! ( I'm being nice here). I have asked for a mandatory appeal, but I don't hold out much hope and am just as nervous as hell about losing what I was given in the first place. What did you do about yours?
les59996 AlexandriaGizmo
Posted
As a matter of interest who told you what points you should get - I thought that only the decision maker can make that decision?
?I had a guess what points I might get after looking at the Benefits & Work website self assessment tool - I was surprised with the answer - nil points but as things have turned out it wasn't wrong (although for a different reason)
erykah71 pamelaj1962
Posted
I was receiving standard DL and no mobility when I reported my change in condition. After the assessment I lost my award. After MR I was awarded the same as before (standard DL no mobility) and am now waiting for my appeal date. The response DWP sent to the tribunal office still says the same as assessment report so it still appears they believe the ATOS nurse who didn't have a clue about my condition and how it affects sufferers has more experience than specialists who deal with people with my condition every day!!!
Total farce and waste of taxpayers money.
Good luck with your MR
AlexandriaGizmo les59996
Posted
I followed the information on the assessment site and if its anywhere near true then that's how I got my points, also my PT worked out with me what she felt I should get, probably want get it but can't say till I get the results.
toni07149 pamelaj1962
Posted