AIBU to expect ATOS to read my form

DWP can award a short term advance on benefits. find out about it here

Are you getting help from your GP? Not eating is not going to help with your Diabetes and neither is the stress. Does your GP know how bad your situation is? You must appeal as so many decisions get overturned. Be guided by what Galen says, she knows the ins and outs of it. Do talk to the Samatitans if you are desperate, they are there to listen.

Put in an appeal and ask to be put on the assessment rate while appealing.
The cab should help you put an appeal together. A strongly worded letter from your GP can be helpful also any cpns or psychiatrists you see.

How are you today sapna? I hope you managed to get some sleep and that things are not looking so bleak today.

Have you rung the Samaritans?

Sapnameghan,are you close to a hospital? Would they help you If you told them you are suicidal? I'm 4,000 miles away in the U.S. and not much help.Everyone is usually asleep at this time.Do you have a phone help line that you could call?

hi every one....

I joined Gransnet just now.... Basically i am feeling suicidal and am desperate to get some help regarding ESA.. failed medical assessment.

i was on the ESA for over 2 years. I went away to try to get help as i felt i was deteriorating mentally and physically... unfortunately it caused more problems.as i went away over a month.. So my ESA got suspended/stopped. ........ I reclaimed........ but cant get any pay until i go thru medical interview (ATOS) I was back in london 22nd December 2012. I havent been paid since...now its 5 months without regular income.. What do people do until we get any benefits of any kind

I dont have any other income... after a lot of phone calls and finally CAB i got an interview 11th April.
Meanwhile i got more depressed and now suffering more anxiety. Ive not been going out of the house much...(no cash...fear of spending ) .. i am eating less..I cant afford to buy regular full meals.. this has an effect on my health as i am diabetic, blood pressure is high .. cholesterol .. I was diagnosed with fibromialgya so i have a lot of physical issues ..

I borrowed money to travel there. I been living on borrowed money which i have to pay back... Crisis Loan is not an option anymore. Local authority help cant help becoz i said friend lent me money. friend can help once twice.........but how can i expect friends to lend me money for 5 months ....she is not working either ..she lives on pension.

I FAILED THE MEDICAL ON THE 11TH APRIL. I just got letter today to inform me.. I feel suicidal.. they are doing their job...meanwhile i am so out of my mind ..i feel like am at the end of the road, I cant stop crying. I've reached the end of the road.... I cant work........but they believe i can......... what do i do besides killing myself.? I cant see any way out..... no one to help or support I am sorry i am blabbering.. I cant think straight... I am preoccupied since i received the letter.. with suicidl thoughts.. visions of thames... and overdose...i got enuf tablets around.. my life has no value anymore.. ESA..obcentre whatever...they are pushing me overedge. If i dont get help soon ...................i don tknow..i feel my mind has a will of its own now...

Can any one please tell me what to do?. Appeal takes a while....i cant fight anymore.. Sorry if this sounds too much .. i already feel stupid
if anyone can help or even advise....... i will really appreciate.........

I wish you all ladies and gents here all the best...

Thank u for reading .............dont worry if u cant help...

bybye

sapna
I am in Southwark, London South East. Live alone

Daughter now has new appointment for Feb 26th. She`s asked her doctor for copies of her medical notes, just in case they take notice of them.

My husband phoned them to explain that I have agoraphobia. The man was very very rude and when my husband responded he threatened to put the phone down.

My doctor has faxed them a letter confirming my agoraphobia. So I assume the next step will be a home visit.

After spending over 2 weeks in trepidation at the thought of her assessment meeting this morning, daughter and myself got up early to be ready on time, only for the phone to ring at 8.30am to say meeting cancelled due to illness! She now has to wait for a letter with a fresh appointment.

Yip!
I see many like your husbands. But? Can't do anything
Not condoning.
Just explaining.

The point scoring is fine up to a point (sorry!) but, when my husband went on a previous occasion with a work related injury, he was turned down. He was fit enough to do many things - but not to do the job he was employed to do. They wanted to find him a job he could do whereas he wanted support until he could get back to the job he'd already got.
Of course there's nothing new about assessment problems. I remember my cousin being forced to crawl up some stairs to prove that she couldn't walk with MS and that must be about 30 years ago! But you'd like to think that we'd moved on.

Wow!

The test is can you mobilise using any aids.including a wheelchair. And strictly speaking the test is not whether you can work but do you score 15 points!

Just as a matter of interest at least 4. Of the appeal tribunals members are wheelchair bound, and many of us are disabled. Believe me we do work!

I'm not condoning the law, just trying to elucidate it.

It was made by the government we(collectively) elected and was actually started under labour!

I think the main problem has been privatisation and ATOS employing nurses physios and midwives to do the exams.rather than doctors.
With due respect to the nurses etc they are often not equipped to deal with cases. Eg a physio assessing a mental problem

Please don't quote me on any thing I may say on GN as these are my private opinions and not neccessarily those of the tribunal service!

I remember seeing one lady on TV who had been judged fit for work because she could work if she was in a wheelchair - which she had not got!She said that she didn't use a wheelchair because sitting in it all the time would make her less mobile and she would deteriorate even more quickly. Obviously this cut no ice with ATOS. It seems worrying that the person who sees you has no say in the final outcome. Surely the whole point is that someone sees you, talks to you and makes an informed decision. Instead it seems to be someone reading a piece of paper and making a decision based on what the traffic was like on the way to work. (Sums up the whole Government really!)

Some MPs are keeping a dossier of complaints against Atos.

Complaining to your MP might possibly achieve something although it's not very likely. It certainly wouldn't if you live in Chingford and your MP was the Nosferatu of the Department of Works and Pensions.

Reading this thread is just horrifying as are some of the things that jeni has mentioned elsewhere. Perhaps the best thing those of us who do not need to claim benefits can do to help is to write in protest to to our MPs. Perhaps if they were deluged with endless complaints from the "able bodied", they might give this iniquitous process some scrutiny. I shall write today.

Something must have gone wrong.
Terminal illness should not have been called and if they were the ATOS Dr has to say that they are or are not suffering from a TI!
This is horrific
I would complain to my MP!

I do have the dubious honour of having them apologise to me. My husband had to go for an assessment in spite of the fact that they already knew he has a terminal illness. We saw a very nice Romanian doctor who was very sympathetic and said that although she didn't have the final word it was obvious he couldn't work. We then got the letter saying that he had been passed fit for work! I made one of my many phone calls - pressing all the numbers and hanging on and being passed on - and I ended up with a very nice young man who said it didn't sound right at all and said he would speak to people and call me back. He called back very promptly and apologised profusely for the way we had been treated and the way our case had been mishandled. Thankfully we've had a lot of help from the Macmillan Benefits people who always seem to know far more about the system than the Benefits offices do.

We sometimes wonder!

Jeni, Thank you so much for your advice. You are very kind, it really helps to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about, I dont think the people at the Job centre have a clue!

Phone me! I'm up til 10.30!

I managed to sob to someone on the phone. She suggested I phone back because she couldn't understand me. Of course she couldn't....that's actually on the form if they'd bothered to read it. I can't speak to people esp on the phone. I stammer and stutter and can't get my words out. Finally as I was becoming hysterical she suggested that my DH phone so they could arrange a home visit.

This pressure is too great to bear. Do they know what they're doing? Maybe getting us to kill ourselves makes it easier for them as they don't have to pay us anything.

helmar if you are having to go to the centre and having interviews albeit over the phone you are in the work related activities group. Not the support group. It will be limited to one year of benefit and then revert to the income related rate!

Helmar I'm PMing you my phone number. If you want you can phone and I'll see if I can help. The law is very tight but often sometimes misapplied!