Today I have received a lovely letter.
ATOS want me to go back and see them.
Now just over a year ago, march 2010 I went for my first "medical" assessment. It said I was able to be back at work within 18 months. Uhuh not going to happen. I appealed based on that, and I won. I won last December.
Today July 29 2011 I get a letter telling me:
"We need some information
Dear Mrs *******,
We have sent you a medical questionnaire with this letter. It is important that you fill in this questionnaire. " and on and on until it says the following:
"What happens next
Depending on the level of you illness or disability you may be asked to come to a medical assessment. The medical assessment will help the Jobcentre Plus make sure you are getting the right amount if benefit. If we need you to come to a medical assessment we will contact you to arrange an appointment."
Medical assessment, erm thought it was a Work Capability Assessment?? I was told by the first ATOS person I saw that "this is not a medical its a test to see how well you will cope in a work situation" well make up your minds for goodness sake its either a "medical assessment" or its not!!!!
This is also worth repeating (well I'm angry and its getting late and its my blog so I'm allowed to repeat myself) there is NOTHING remotely "medical" about the test apart from the person doing the tick box assessment will claim to be medically trained (coff coff not always true coff coff) and quite frankly the mouse clicking could be done by an untrained monkey.
I also noted the thinly veiled threat, "will help the Jobcentre Plus make sure you are getting the right amount of benefit." this translated means of course that ATOS disagree with the Tribunal about the group I am in, and want me to go through the seventh circle of hell that is the appeal again.
Ohh and another little gem, the form I was sent with the letter from ATOS, is a Jobcentre Plus form. Hmmmmm why are ATOS sending the forms?? Why are the JCP not sending the forms???
Well the simple answer is ATOS are doing the dirty work of the JCP, it also saves time if I send the form back to ATOS and not to the DWP. This means the mail room (OK the Royal Mail who open all DWP letters and put them aside to lose all pertinent information) wont have to be employed and cuts out the need to pay actual people to actually deal with claimants , not customers, personal and highly sensitive information.
If I send back any reports from any doctors dealing with my condition, they will be "lost" in the system, and I will have no proof of sending them since proof of posting counts for precisely squat with DWP and ATOS.
Well this time I am ready for them. I know that my condition has not changed, maybe that will miff them off since it was an ATOS employee who said I will be back to work within 18 months. I know this is not about me anymore this is about ATOS being angry at me appealing and more importantly winning last time and I expected this. I have been telling my husband that "there will be an ATOS letter anytime now" for the last month, well they did keep me waiting for a month how inconsiderate of them to make me wait!!!!
I noticed on the letter there is a date to send back the form, the date is the 12 September, now that will make very close to the 18 months that I have heard bandied about that if you appeal and win ATOS make you wait before pulling you in again. All this will mean is again this Christmas I will not be able to relax with my kids, I will not have a decent nights sleep, I will barely eat again. All because again I will have this hanging over my head. I will become snappy with anyone who so much as looks at me the wrong way again. But I am prepared this time.
I will however look forward to the changes supposedly brought about by the Harrington Review, within the "medical assessment" this time since my first two were before the review was published late last year.
The fight goes on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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