Had ATOS PIP assess today. My thoughts/ a quest

Thank you both,

SAR request on its way to them today.

Thank you so, so much for all the help.

Orangeblossom wrote: Just a short comment on this. When I got my PIP report they can put 300 mins for the times spent on looking at everything, I suppose this includes writing it too. So they do spend quite a bit of time overall.

Thanks for that, interesting to know. The assessor said he would read all of the 250 odd documents I supplied after the assessment. I supplied them simply as I had them available and to see if they would be read out off curiosity.

Before the assessment he matter of factly said he hadn't even finished reading the PIP questionnaire I had filled out as he had only 20 mins to read it beforehand....

So the assessment was carried out without him even really knowing the Health issues I have.

Seems a pretty poor way of handling things.

Sorry, not a question, just a bit ot a rant. Just to indulge myself.

Did something a little silly today and spent a few hours googling for all things ATOS.

I am utterly shocked and utterly saddened by what Ive read.

I mean totally saddened by the utter corruption and callousness of the whole WCA/PIP/DLA "system" it we can give it such a presentable title.

Want to type an all out essay on it but that will just make me feel worse.

So... things I learned about ATOS and the whole smelly arrangement they have with DWP and us, their "clients".

1) My assessor made quite a big deal of the fact he is a "trained" Disability Analyst. Sounds pretty grand doesnt it? Apart that its a title made up by ATOS and not recognised by any reputable (even reputable?) medical association. I had suspected that on the day I saw him but to have came across defensive at the assessment would have done my cause little good Im sure. Now I wish I had asked, I suspect he may well have lied and said he was DWP trained. To try and infer legitimacy to it. Will never know now.

2) The fact I mentioned and made no secret of the fact I look after my mother who has dementia will almost certainly count against me in the PIP decision. It would seem that its treated similar to the owning a pet question they sometimes ask and why they ask it. Their working premise not mine I may add. Utterly despicable. Looking after my mum is by far the most import"job" I have ever had and I am proud to care for the lady that devoted so much of her life to bringing me up.

3) An ATOS professional is expected to have 10 clients seen a day by ATOS. A production line.

4) ATOS actually have a business relationship with an "rectangularly body" to whom you might well consider lodging a complaint with as this is a medical associated assessment. Cosy.

5) My assessors almost robotic lack of emotion, good or bad, is a trait ATOS instil into its HPs. "Your not here to care and anyway there's always the appeal process". That struck home as being just what the physio that saw me said as we left the room followed by, "oh, don't forget, you can always appeal..." I took that as a non too well hidden "not a chance" type comment. Swiftly followed by another ATOS mantra they are taught, "I don't make the decision, DWP do". Of course, but whose assessment do DWP read??.... Ironically I never asked him about the appeal procedure or who makes the decision. As he (by his own confession) had only read a tiny fraction of all the paper evidence I had given him I was obviously naive enough to think he might read that before deciding about descriptors and the like. It would seem my fate was sealed before he will ever get around to even completely reading the DWP questionnaire I filled out. How old fashioned of me to think he would read evidence from doctors and the like. Hes a trained Disability Analyst after all.

6) Nurses openly discuss the "merits" of having worked for ATOS on the net. To their huge credit almost all are damning of the company and its mechanisms and do their best to warn their colleagues off this "toxic" employer.

7) More of a personal bit of betrayal this one. The physio I saw runs 2 businesses related to his profession over 3 or 4 sites. Clearly a man that isn't doing a job he dislikes because that's all he can find to make ends meet. I could actually forgive that. This is a guy simply out to make some extra money when he isn't using the same room and examination couch to treat paying customers for sports injuries. How very entrepreneurial of him.

8) This is the worst to be honest, by far. People with terrible, chronic health conditions are being open and as frank as they are given time to be about how their illness affects them. Some illnesses Ive read about make my problems seem quite insignificant in comparison. Utterly humbling.Ive seen it on this forum and read it a hundred fold on other web pages on the net today. Actually a great many people are guilty of playing down how their illnesses affects them if anything. It doesnt feel right to "complain" does it? A humbling ability that ATOS are so eager to exploit.

There so much more I could say but the utter greed and contempt for fellow humans that this whole ATOS affair has exposed to me is simply not an aspect of the world I like to see.

Naive? Possibly, but thank God for it in that case.

The only positive of today is that it has made me 10 times more resolved to fight the, as I see it, now inevitable denied PIP claim I shall be getting in a week or so.

Keep up the fight good folks. I still believe that most people on this earth are by nature kind. It just seems that at the moment we are ruled by villains.

(No more research for me now until I get my SAR and decision back I think!)