10 month wait!

Have my ATOS medical assessment tomorrow and an a little concerned. Sorry this is a bit long, just wanted to put the background in.


Originally found fit for work on my transfer from IB in Jan last year, finally placed in WRAG after appeal in Nov.


My condition had worsened in Sept last year so I requested a supersession review immediately after getting the result of my tribunal. (Tribunal was at 2pm on Friday 2/11, I received the result letter on Saturday 3rd and phoned DWP on the Monday to make the request and followed up with a letter posted the same day)


I seem to have been messed about by DWP, even tho I made it clear I was not disputing the Tribunal's findings as they were looking at my condition as it was in January, for some reason they sent my paperwork back to the Tribunal?


I finally received a new form to complete in Feb (this arrived on the day my benefit stopped due to the 365 day rule).


I have been constantly chasing DWP about this review, finally informed I would have to attend another medical. ATOS have had my file since the beginning of April, having chased them repeatedly about the progress of me actually getting an appointment I found out the assessment centre I am assigned to only does assessments on one day a month, max of 9 appointment a day! However there is another centre the same distance from my home which does them weekly - after 6 weeks of being bounced back and forth between ATOS & DWP I finally managed to get moved to the other assessment centre.


I now have an appointment tomorrow and have found out I will be seeing the same doctor I saw for my first assessment. What is concerning me is that when I appealed I pointed out the fact that he contradicted himself throughout the report with regards to my limitations. In my appeal I stated that while I did have an examination by the doctor it was limited to a very basic check of my back and legs, my arms/hands were not examined yet he has made a statement in the report that I have no issues with strength/grip in my hands (this is untrue) - for some reason only know to DWP when they received my appeal they wrote to the doctor saying I had stated I did not have an examination of any kind, his reply was literally 'I confirm an examination was conducted' - I mentioned this to the Tribunal Judge, he said he had also noticed this and was unsure as to why DWP had done that as he could see I was only disputing an examination of a specific function.


Anyway I'm worried now that the doctor is going to remember the fact that I appealed and tore his report to pieces and this will now affect his report for this medical!


I have a sinking feeling I will have to appeal the results of this review

Should I be worrying about having the same doctor or do I just go in as if I've never met him before - unless of course he mentions it?

Thanks Gordon

When they arranged the appointment with me on the phone I was told there was a note on my file saying I had to see a doctor from a 'specific field' (they did say what field but I can't remember lol) due to my condition - spinal problems. The advisor told me the name of the doctor, I didn't ask, which is how I knew it was the same doctor. According to the advisor it had to be this particular doctor as he specialised in my condition - to be honest at the first assessment I got the impression he didn't have a clue about my condition

I arrived for my appointment today and had a totally different doctor Totally different experience today compared with the previous assessment. First doc was male, this one was female but I think the main difference was the personality of the doctors. I was in for over an hour and she covered everything in detail without being condescending like the first doctor.

I feel it went well but will have to wait and see now, not expecting a fast response from this seeing as it's been 10 months since my request for a review was submitted!
I will update when I hear something.

Huge thanks to everyone involved on this site as I wouldn't have managed to fight this hard or get this far without the excellent advice on here

sue wrote: Thanks Gordon

When they arranged the appointment with me on the phone I was told there was a note on my file saying I had to see a doctor from a 'specific field' (they did say what field but I can't remember lol) due to my condition - spinal problems. The advisor told me the name of the doctor, I didn't ask, which is how I knew it was the same doctor. According to the advisor it had to be this particular doctor as he specialised in my condition - to be honest at the first assessment I got the impression he didn't have a clue about my condition

I arrived for my appointment today and had a totally different doctor Totally different experience today compared with the previous assessment. First doc was male, this one was female but I think the main difference was the personality of the doctors. I was in for over an hour and she covered everything in detail without being condescending like the first doctor.

I feel it went well but will have to wait and see now, not expecting a fast response from this seeing as it's been 10 months since my request for a review was submitted!
I will update when I hear something.

Huge thanks to everyone involved on this site as I wouldn't have managed to fight this hard or get this far without the excellent advice on here

Hi s,

Thanks for returning to let us know of your more positive experience, this time round.

"Fingers Crossed" for a successful review !!!

Please do keep us updated.

bro58

So relieved and happy at the moment

Phone call from DWP this morning to say I have been placed in the Support group from 8/9/2012 with a review time of 3 years - so I'm hoping I have at least 18 months before I have to go through it all again (I'm assuming the 3yrs starts from the 2012 date)
My payments will restart on 25th October and my back pay will be in my account this week. Just got to wait for the actual letter now.


It's been a very long fight and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the advice and support on here. So a huge thank you to everyone on here