Can anyonewho has been for an ATOS interview help?

Just be truthful .. If you are fit for work, then you're fit for work, full stop.

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2012 at 11:27 ----------

 

 

 

Well said and I totally agree. If you are genuinely disabled you shouldn't have to make things up.

Its atos that make things up, benefit fraud rate is only 0.7%.

My old man had rheumatoid arthritis for twenty plus years and still continued working. He's plastered half of Sheffield.

They dont mek em like they used to RESPECT

---------- Post added 17-12-2012 at 16:10 ----------

Thank you Evei, common sense, compassion and humanity. All in one post.

My faith in human nature is restored. But as for the rest of the forum morons...........

That dont make sense here you are paying taxes and your next post your telling us your a disabled lung cancer sufferer:huh:

They dont mek em like they used to RESPECT

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2012 at 16:10 ----------

 

 

That dont make sense here you are paying taxes and your next post your telling us your a disabled lung cancer sufferer:huh:

Dont the disabled recieve pensions ?? Dont they have savings ?? Dont they often do limited part time work ?? They also pay taxes.

I have no intention of telling you anything else about myself so dont ask. You dont seem to be the sharpest knife in the box.

That dont make sense here you are paying taxes and your next post your telling us your a disabled lung cancer sufferer:huh:

What are your thoughts if someone has life long treatment that enables them to work however the cost of the drugs required for them to do this are more than the taxes they will pay into the system working in a job that requires them to be well qualified and is a 50+ hour job?

For example Anti-TNF for some types of arthritis costs roughly £10,000+ a year at the moment. It is likely that they will be on the drugs for life, for example if your diagnosed at 30 your will be on them for 40+ years, retirement age will most likely be 70 by the time they get there. If they don't take them it is unlikely they will have a full working life, the point of the drugs is to stop/ slow the arthritis to stop them getting to the point of being disabled. To worry you even more these drugs are also given to people that are already disabled and so are not able to work already, is that another extra drain on your taxes?

I find it scary that people are happy to argue with people over disability payments but the same people don't appear willing to argue how their taxes are wasted in other ways and makes me wonder how far they will go.....At the rate people are thinking about their taxes and picking on the easy targets, instead of some of the more stupid wastes I cannot even see us having an NHS in 50 years time and yet again it will be the poorest in society that cannot afford private health insurance that will miss out.

What are your thoughts if someone has life long treatment that enables them to work however the cost of the drugs required for them to do this are more than the taxes they will pay into the system working in a job that requires them to be well qualified and is a 50+ hour job?

 

For example Anti-TNF for some types of arthritis costs roughly £10,000+ a year at the moment. It is likely that they will be on the drugs for life, for example if your diagnosed at 30 your will be on them for 40+ years, retirement age will most likely be 70 by the time they get there. If they don't take them it is unlikely they will have a full working life, the point of the drugs is to stop/ slow the arthritis to stop them getting to the point of being disabled. To worry you even more these drugs are also given to people that are already disabled and so are not able to work already, is that another extra drain on your taxes?

 

I find it scary that people are happy to argue with people over disability payments but the same people don't appear willing to argue how their taxes are wasted in other ways and makes me wonder how far they will go.....At the rate people are thinking about their taxes and picking on the easy targets, instead of some of the more stupid wastes I cannot even see us having an NHS in 50 years time and yet again it will be the poorest in society that cannot afford private health insurance that will miss out.

Nicely put Evie, but trying to instill a commonsense view into this Cameron/Clegg brainwashed mob is like wading in treacle. I depend on expensive arthritis drugs to avoid total disability, they enable me to work part time but still dont stop all the pain. They are also used as a chemotherapy drug so the side effects are debillitating.

We have too many 'know 'nowts' chucking their ill informed opinions around. I know nothing about football so I stay off the football threads...........I would just show my ignorance [like certain contributors on SF] I share your views on the NHS. If people dont quickly 'wise up', we will lose it.

I dont think there will be a welfare benefits system to call anything in the next 10 years !

The system was devised to help people who are Disabled, unable to work bacause of Ill health or Unemployment.

The government are dismantling the system bit by bit and many posters on here are going along and agreeing with it and indeed insulting the people that are claiming by calling them scroungers, feckless and idle etc !

These critics probably dont need benefits now - But one day THEIR health may deteriorate or THEY might get made redundant and THEY might need welfare assistance.

But will there be anything left of it ?

The new PIP that will take over from DLA is designed for nothing more than slashing billions off Welfare, and will affect Disabled/ILL people who need the most help.

ATOS are declaring people fit for work when they are not ! They are merely working to government guidelines and targets. 40% of appeals are in favour of the claimants, what do's that tell you ?

Its ATOS that will decide who qualifies from DLA to PIP and save the government Billions at the expense and detriment of the Disabled/ILL of health.

Critics need to wake up and smell the coffee. And THINK ! One day it just might be YOU who needs it !!!

This message has been deleted.

"brainwashed", "clowns","morons", "know nowts"..... you need to calm dahn a bit!

You need to stop commenting on subjects you know nothing about. Like I said, I know nothing about football so I dont comment about football.

ATOS is a serious subject, they are banned in a few US States and under investigation in many countries for sharp practices.

Unless you have been involved with them or suffer a serious condition then you cannot understand the problems the disabled face.

Governments DO brainwash people. Bash the disabled enough and the electorate might just forget what a thieving dishonest lot our MP's are.

In the meantime the media, the press and the government have put all disabled people on trial for suspected fraud.

And you wonder why I get angry ????????

This message has been deleted.

If you believe that every disability claim is legitimate, fine, if you don't, it may be that you are comfortable that the issue is being addressed.

I don't think anybody thinks that every disability claim is legitimate. Has anybody actually claimed that to be the case?

The methodology may be flawed, I don't know if this is the case.

Have you done any research into ATOS and its methodology? It doesn't sound like you have so, if you would like to inform your opinion, you could start with the Panorama documentary Disabled or Faking it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lldrc/Panorama_Disabled_or_Faking_It/

or the Dispatches episode Who's Cheating Who?

Many people who appear to have a problem with this appear to be the ones who feel they have been judged unfairly by the process, this may be affecting their perception (would they feel as they do if the decision would have swung in their favour?).

Below I have highlighted several individuals and organisations who have not been negatively assessed by ATOS but do question their methodology.

The performance of Atos Healthcare in the UK in respect of Work Capability Assessment (WCA) has been criticised by the Commons Select Committee for Work and Pensions, by individual MPs . It is also frequently criticised by the press, as well as by advocacy groups such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, disabled people's organisations and individual disabled people.Professor Paul Gregg, one of the designers of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), has stated that the WCA is "badly malfunctioning", concluding that, "the current assessment is a complete mess." Professor Malcolm Harrington, asked by the Government to carry out the independent review of the WCA, concluded in 2012 that there were "certainly areas where it's still not working."

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), with responsibility for ESA decision-making, was reported in 2011 to have by far the highest number of decisions overturned at appeal of any UK Department of State. According to the Department of Work and Pensions' own statistics, approximately 38% of all appeals against ESA eligibility decisions are successful (rising to approximately 70% when advocacy groups are involved). This equates to around 9% of all ESA decisions.

In 2012 43 complaints were being investigated against Atos doctors and nurses, by the General Medical Council or Nursing & Midwifery Council.

Particular criticism has been directed at Atos over the ability of its staff to deal with complex mental health issues and patients with varying conditions. Doctors receive eight days of training in disability before being allowed to assess patients and nurses receive a seventeen day training course accredited by the University of Derby. In August 2012, Atos Healthcare claimed they had appointed 60 Mental Function Champions to provide additional training.

A very common complaint is the refusal of the assessors to make eye contact. Assessors have found patients with terminal cancer or severe multiple sclerosis to be fit for work.

In an article for the BMJ, a doctor attended an Atos recruitment seminar and then detailed her experience. She concluded that she did not feel it was possible for a doctor to work as an Atos assessor and simultaneously adhere to their professional responsibility to place the needs of the patient first at all times. In response to a comment by a reader of the article that Atos doctors did not owe claimants their normal duty of care, the Standards and Fitness to Practise Directorate of the General Medical Council issued guidance that Atos assessments are indeed a doctor-patient interaction and that doctors have to make the interests of their patients their first concern at all times, closing the guidance with a reminder that "Being open and honest and acting with integrity is also an essential part of medical professionalism." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atos (all links can be checked and verified at webpage).

If you have no personal experience of disablement and/or of ATOS then you are unlikely to be able to offer any help to the OP. The subject of ATOS, its suitability and its methods have been debated on other threads.

There is an 'expert' round every corner..................

---------- Post added 18-12-2012 at 23:48 ----------

Thank you Mikem 8634, my own GP admitted to me that he had been employed by ATOS in its early years. He found that he could not carry on as an assessor for the same reasons you have listed above. He resigned despite the fact that the money was handy and it was getting rid of his mortgage.

Doctors take an oath to act at all times in the patients interest. ATOS just 'does it for the money'. They do the dirty work for whoever is willing to pay them.

If you have no personal experience of disablement and/or of ATOS then you are unlikely to be able to offer any help to the OP. The subject of ATOS, its suitability and its methods have been debated on other threads.

There is an 'expert' round every corner..................

 

---------- Post added 18-12-2012 at 23:48 ----------

 

Thank you Mikem 8634, my own GP admitted to me that he had been employed by ATOS in its early years. He found that he could not carry on as an assessor for the same reasons you have listed above. He resigned despite the fact that the money was handy and it was getting rid of his mortgage.

Doctors take an oath to act at all times in the patients interest. ATOS just 'does it for the money'. They do the dirty work for whoever is willing to pay them.

Happy to help but apologies for going off-topic.