ATOS cancel with little notice

I received a call from atos about 3 hours before the so called medical they cancelled it because the Dr is ill . As I would find it difficult and very tiring getting to the local public transport. The woman gave a date and as I needed to confirm with my daughter if the date was OK for her as well and this is what I said to her, this is when her tone became aggressive and she basically told me I was having that date and that I had already cancelled once, I had but that was because when I got the letter telling me to call them within 2 days, I tried to tell them of the appointments I had that had turned up after sending in the forms before the first appointment was sent out, but they were not interested.
There is a reason I won't use public transport and that is because I could, make that would, fall asleep and end up missing the stop, so if I managed to get on a train I could end up anywhere, and the same on a bus.
All I wanted was the time and date and a telephone number to call back and say if the date was OK or not after asking the person taking me. The question I have is
Is this a common practice of ATOS to cancel appointments at short notice and the staff to use an aggressive tone if you IMO don't jump through hoops for them

Hi Dean,

Whilst I have no love for ATOS, regretfully doctors like the rest of us can become ill, and a planned medical has to be cancelled at short notice. This sometimes happened when Jim sat on DLA Tribunals where normally there has to be three members on the panel, or the appeal had to be adjourned.

ATOS medical assessors which include doctors, nursers, physiotherapists and occupational therapists are supposed to give claimants 7 days notice of a planned medical, be it at a Medical Examination Centre or a home visit, although in practice this doesn't always happen.

Presumably, they had no one else to replace the doctor who was scheduled to examine you.

The best advice I can give, is to insist on the 7 days notice of a future medical, and to put in a complaint about the person who was aggressive with you.

Good luck.

Pat.

Dean what is this medical for (DLA etc)? Pat's advice is good. Additionally if your condition is really bad you can ask for a home visit for DLA etc, in some cases you could be exempt from the need to travel...I don't have all the details handy but roughly their guide relating to a need to attend a medical assessment unit is graded.. 1.Unsuitable for calling to a Medical Examination Centre.(certain serious conditions I can't find at the moment)
2.Reference to Medical Advisor required for advice
..3. Tentatively invite to Medical Examination Centre which includes the following
Agoraphobia (offer taxi)
CFS Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Diabetic Neuropathy
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / ME
Peripheral Neuropathy
Social Phobia.. etc
If your conditions are worse or on parr with those in 3 above get a letter from your GP to say that you are not fit to travel because of your condition.
incidentally I put on my form that I had problems using the phone but they still tried it on by phoning me for an appointment,and gave me abuse down the phone as well. I wrote to them telling them not to ring again. I received 2 future appointments by letter, neither of the doctors turned up either..

Hi dean, I have posted on here before about my so called medical and I will tell you what happened to me - I cancelled the first one myself because the person I wanted to go with me couldn't at that time got another 3 appts which atos cancelled but not at such short notice like you, finally went to have my medical only to be told they had none of my details and told me to contact dwp! I am sure you have an idea of the worry and stress I suffered, I went to the cab and they told me they had never heard of anyone who had so many appts cancelled (I would imagine a lot of people have) I have just had to fill in another ib50 because they have lost the first one! that was a few weeks ago I am trying not to contact them to see what is happening because at least at the moment my benefit hasn't been affected sorry I have waffled on for so long but I hope with using the info on this fantastic site you will have a positive outcome-good luck dean

Dean.. In addition to carrying out the advice of the posts above, put CIB/2221/2005 into your home page (search_ . It is quite relevant to your problem insofar as it appears that even though they can phone you up to arrange an appointment, they also have a duty to then inform you by letter and if this is not carried out then you can not have failed to keep an appointment

Thanks, I understand that they can become ill just like the rest of us, I normally don't answer withheld numbers. I would put a complaint in but when she basically told me that was the date I was getting and tough my reply to her, is not suitable for printing, if you know what I mean.