Incapacity Benefit Medical

thanks anne, will let you know the outcome.

anne, forgot to mention, what was the medical like & did you take someone with you?

great news on passing though.

Hi Steve

My tip is: if you possibly can, get someone to go with you and minute absolutely everything that is said. A family member or friend would probably do - I managed to get an Advocacy volunteer within the week, although it's usually possible to change the date for the medical anyway.

I did that and it was invaluable afterwards, and it would have been reassuring to have the record anyway. My volunteer even minuted things like "the nurse asked me again who I was, despite my already having explained" and the fact that on leaving the building I "thanked me[him] and remarked that 'that was hateful'".

I did this because I was loath to do something so important without having a record of exactly what was said, in the light of the disallowing of tape recorders (?!).

Best of luck

Hi Alsn,

Legally, there is nothing to stop you from covertly recording a medical for your own use. However, as I'm sure you're aware if you ask the Medical Assessor they will refuse, as per ATOS Medical Services instructions.

My husband Jim, who is one of the original B & W moderators and a qualified WRO and former Social Security Tribunal Member, but currently off sick, has sat in on lots of medicals for incapacity benefits and DLA and often used to record them with a voice activated dictation machine in his top pocket.

In some cases the medicals were unsatisfactory which resulted in appeals to what is now known as the First-tier Tribunal.

Tribunals have wide powers on which evidence to accept and which to reject, and in a number of cases, Jim was allowed to submit evidence recorded covertly, using the argument that the DWP often covertly record claimants.

However, what is absolutely forbidden, as it could constitute 'contempt of court' is to attempt to record covertly the tribunal proceedings as a tribunal is a 'court of law' albeit an informal one.

Hope this information is of help to you and to other members.

Best wishes.

Pat

Thanks a lot, Pat. I went for the minutes/witness option mainly because PTSD is my problem and I wanted to keep my stress levels to a minimum but also because it was the middle of a hot summer so I really had no options for hiding anything on my person! I guess it sometimes comes down to such small considerations. It's good to know tribunals sometimes accept covert recordings as evidence though, that's unexpectedly reasonable .

I just wanted to recount my success with being accompanied and minuted, as I hadn't expected it to do much good, but it turned out to have been a really good idea.

Steve
sorry to be tardy in replying
The medical was OK. I did not take anyone with me - at the time I was not receiving any type of community support. A friend did take me and stayed in the waiting room. The Dr questioned me quite closely about this. The medical lasted about 45 mins and the experience was just as descibed the section on IB medicals on this site. The Dr asked all of the expected Qs and typed away. At the end she appologised for having to put me through it and just about confirmed that my IB would continue (for now) From my copy of my report it is clear that assumptions are made from your appearance and behaviour as well as your answers eg I have a friend therefore I do not have problems with social interaction And she must have watched me climbing the stairs as I scored points for this. Good luck and try not to worry