medical cancelled last minute !!

I had a phone call at 11.10 am to say my medical had been cancelled i was due to been seen at 11.40am! i am so cross as i worked myself up into a state bout going anyway i now have to wait at least another 3 weeks for atos to contact me. Has anyone else had this?

Hi,

As you can see in the threads Gordon points to, there can be a large number of reasons why medicals can be cancelled at relatively short notice. It is always worth however enquiring as to the actual reason for the cancellation as sometimes it is unavoidable.

I am aware of a recent case where both of the Doctors (and indeed some of the claimants) for one centre were stuck for a number of hours behind a sadly fatal accident on the A1 which had multiple casualties. Both Doctors assisting at the scene to treat the injured. That obviously put medicals well behind for the day and thus led to cancellations. On another occasion a Nurse's mother died suddenly that morning.

Also when things do run late at centres (think how many times one is late actually getting into to see ones GP at the appointed time), ATOS do try to prioritise those who have travelled long distances on Public Transport and have to catch a last train/bus home, which for those who live rural areas can be quite early in the day (for example the village I live in has it's last bus departure from the nearest town with an Atos centre at 1.20pm).

Whilst not trying to make excuses for ATOS, sometimes it is out of their control and rather than having people sat around the waiting room in a vain hope of being seen that day, it is on balance probably better to cancel those who have a relatively short journey to/from the centre.

However if the reason for the cancellation is down to errors in their own administration I would be minded to make a formal complaint.

Pete