ESA Medical was not what I expected

Had my ESA medical yesterday and it was far from what this website has portrayed it to be. After a friendy greeting we were led to a room with no computer. First thing he said was he was sorry that i'd been called for medical as under the old system i would not have been asked to attend, under the new rules everyone gets asked to attend. After just a few questions and checking what medication I had taken with me he declared there was'nt any need to continue the medical as it was obvious to him that i was unfit for work and therefore his recommendation would be to put me in the support group. He was genuinely helpful, friendly and professional, cant fault the interview in any way and as i said earliar there was no computer, We were only in for 15 mins. Clearly I now hope DWP accept his observations and advice, up till now i have also recieved help and friendly advice from them too, not forgetting to mention my own doctor, my consultant, CAB, and lastly but not least my good wife
If this is the new way to conduct these medical assesments then it gets a big thumbs up from me

Hi Graeme,

Thanks for letting us know what happened at your medical. I'm glad your experience was so different to what we portray - sadly, I suspect that yours won't prove to be the start of a new dawn of friendly, brief and fair medicals.

But we'll see.

Steve

The chances of this happening are the same as winning the european lottery lol.

I have had 2 ESA medicals,

Medical 1, a "full" medical with a result that was not as expected and medical documents were full of assumptions. I have an appeal for this on friday.

Medical 2, just like your's in that it was quick, a friendly dr, and stopped early with recommendation for support group.

From talking to the dr on the second medical last month it seems he had already made his decision (more or less) before the medical and he had spoken to his "higher" dr which they must do I believe to place someone into the support group before the medical. The evidence i had from my gp made it pretty obvious to him that he would be recommending the support group hence the medical was just a quick one for him to confirm.

If the DWP request a medical then Atos get paid for it whether it is a quick in and out as it is obvious from paperwork and evidence to them you should be in the support group....so I think some people will have medicals like this but I do not think it is the norm and I would believe that what is generally reported here about unfair medicals is the norm unfortunately.

By the way DWP took the dr's recommendation and I was placed in the support group 31st december 2010.

headinawheelchair wrote:

The chances of this happening are the same as winning the european lottery lol.

The simple honest fact is that it happened the way i described, i posted my experience for the benefit of those folks who are about to be asked to attend a ESA medical in that they need not get into an anxious state beforehand , just be themselves and if they are genuinely ill they really should'nt have too much to worry about, easiar said than done in many cases but please be inspired by my experience not mock it !!

Perhaps i should do the lottery this week

Trouble is that folk who are genuinely ill still are not beleieved WHATEVER they report so you can understand that sadly people are going to worry, i think the testimonials speak a thousand volumes!
However, great result, fortune smiled upon you and
hopefully they will not hassle you in a hurry.
Callisto