Medical results

Please could someone tell me- how do the results show from an Atos medical? - does it list all the actual questions, answers asked, or does it come out as the actual descriptors and how you match them? Also can the DWP share this information with others? My MIND advisor told me to ask for a copy of the report but the assessor said I would need to write to the DWP for that. Thank you.

Hi Sarah

An ATOS medical report for IB or ESA (never seen a DLA report) does not, unfortunately, contain the questions and answers spoken at the medical.

It contains the doctor's decision of whether or not you satisfy each individual descriptor with some sort of evidence to justify the decision. The evidence are generally computer generated statements produced from your answers that the doctor types into the computer, and are therefore often inaccurate or even irrelevant to the descriptor.

I am not aware of the DWP being able to share the information with any external organization other that ATOS.

You can and should obtain a copy of the report from JCP (you don't have to write, you can phone) but they refuse to send them out until a decision on your entitlement is reached.

Hope this is helpful

Derek

Thank you. Also, there should be a load of medical reports from the past, do they (DWP) keep all that stuff and take it into account or just use the most recent information?

They do keep past medical reports but I'm not sure how long they go back. Many organizations automatically destroy documents that are more than five or seven years old, though I'm not sure what the DWP's policy is.

I would be absolutely astonished if a decision maker could be bothered to request a copy of a previous medical report before making a decision. I would not be surprised if they spend five minutes on the decision before moving on to the next claimant.

If you have had previous medicals and have no report, I would suggest that you give them a ring and request copies of all the medical reports they have.