medical appointment

Hi,
I got my wife to phone to arrange a change of medical appointment,as i cant take telephone calls,and the operator was continually cohercing her thet he wanted to speak to me,i eventually said to him quickly that she could speak on my behalf.He said he wanted to talk more.He also said,that your only allowed to change it once. My question is can they refuse to speak to your wife,and is it true you can only rearrange appointment once,what if i cant get somebody to go with me.I dont know if they can refuse under data protection to speak to anyone else?.

This is one thing I don't like about having to arrange the medical, or interrogation as I call them, if you go alone you are vulnerable to the HCP but if you are going with someone you have to arrange with them a list of dates & times they have available, I bet ATOS can cancel as many times as they like using the excuse that the doctor is ill, or similar.

With my medical I already had a list of dates I couldn't attend because I already had hospital appointments but was told in no uncertain terms that they would send an appointment and I could change it if it clashed with an appointment I already had, when the appointment turned up it clashed with an MRI scan that I could have told them about before any appointment was made.
I changed my appointment and on the morning of the appointment I was called first on the house phone, and because it showed as withheld and also my problems with speaking I ignored the call, then my mobile rang and this also showed withheld for the number but I had accidentally caught the answer button so had to do my best to cope with someone who basically told me the appointment was cancelled and my new appointment was on so & so date at this time, with no chance of contacting the person who was going with me to see if the date & time was OK before agreeing to it. I was told if the date wasn't acceptable then I could change it for an earlier date but not a later date.

They always want to speak to the claimant as much as possible as they think that they are the people who they can manipulate easiest.

It does say that you can only change the appointment once to me this does seem unfair that you can only change the appointment once when you may due to your condition be unable to attend or get a hospital appointment that you see as more important than a visit to the ATOS centre.

In my dealings with ATOS or the DWP I have simply told them to speak to my daughter, if I manage to get the words out. If you require someone to handle your calls and speak to ATOS and the DWP I would say put it on all the forms you are asked to fill in by them 2 departments

It does seem typical. Only yesterday I was bullied into accepting an appointment at a centre for next week by a woman so brusque I was scared to say no.

I was made to feel an idiot because I asked her to repeat the request, as she practically shouted down the phone at me and gave me the choice of Friday or Friday. So I took the Friday.

Hubby has had to take the day off to be able to take me, as I won't be in a fit state to get myself home. And to top it all the centre has no parking on-site, disabled or otherwise! the area it is in is littered with cycle paths-so you can't leave the car on the street, and the instructions to get to the place say use the park and ride but its 'only' 200 yards from the bus stop ! Hello mobility assessment... I can't get on a bus let alone walk the 200 yards and cross a dual carriageway.

just re read my letter from ATOS. not only is it in an area where there is no parking- even disabled on street, and they expect me to take the bus and walk 200 yards. the centre is on the first floor.

just another way of testing me I suppose.

chobbler wrote:

It does seem typical. Only yesterday I was bullied into accepting an appointment at a centre for next week by a woman so brusque I was scared to say no.

I was made to feel an idiot because I asked her to repeat the request, as she practically shouted down the phone at me and gave me the choice of Friday or Friday. So I took the Friday.

Hubby has had to take the day off to be able to take me, as I won't be in a fit state to get myself home. And to top it all the centre has no parking on-site, disabled or otherwise! the area it is in is littered with cycle paths-so you can't leave the car on the street, and the instructions to get to the place say use the park and ride but its 'only' 200 yards from the bus stop ! Hello mobility assessment... I can't get on a bus let alone walk the 200 yards and cross a dual carriageway.

I was told the other day that if ATOS phone you to change your appointment and put pressure on you to accept then just disconnect the call and don't answer the phone for any numbers you don't know or are withheld, sometimes when people put pressure on disabled people they will think well it gets the appointment out of the way as they fear it.

they certainly applied the pressure, I was told she had 12 appointments in my area to make for the doctor and that Friday was the choice I had. I could choose one time slot or another, but she shut me down when I tried to ask for another day. It was implied that if I didn't take either time I would have to wait for the others to have made their choice and then I could get the remaining.