DLA refused based on old ATOS medical

my DLA claim has been refused based on an ATOS medical that is almost 6 months old.

SInce that old medical there has been a deterioration but the DWP have not asked my GP for a report nor asked me to take a new medical.

It is very unlikely, due to my condition, that I will be able to attend an appeal in person, although I have been advised it is very unlikely any oral appeal will be held until March 2011 !

I have asked my GP for a support letter which he is doing for me and my therapist is going to do something similar as well.

Now, I know that oral appeals have a higher chance of winning but I really dont think I will be in a position to attend an oral hearing.

What should I do now?

thank you for any help,

Lisa

Have you appealed at all or are you still thinking about it? You must get that GL24 in within one month if you want to appeal. If you haven't already submitted it, when you do, your case will automatically be reconsidered prior to going to appeal.

If you can't get to an appeal yourself, there is nothing wrong with getting someone else to go for you, and if not, provided you can cope with the stress of it, any appeal is better than none. After all, the chances of winning may be lower at a paper appeal, but they're still better than not appealing at all.

If I were in your shoes, I'd get some face-to-face advice from a welfare adviser.

lochlisa wrote:

my DLA claim has been refused based on an ATOS medical that is almost 6 months old.

SInce that old medical there has been a deterioration but the DWP have not asked my GP for a report nor asked me to take a new medical.

It is very unlikely, due to my condition, that I will be able to attend an appeal in person, although I have been advised it is very unlikely any oral appeal will be held until March 2011 !

I have asked my GP for a support letter which he is doing for me and my therapist is going to do something similar as well.

Now, I know that oral appeals have a higher chance of winning but I really dont think I will be in a position to attend an oral hearing.

What should I do now?

thank you for any help,

Lisa

There has been some fervent discussion about the cross-referral of medical reports for benefit purposes, if that did indeed happen in your position, in this thread HERE.

Although the discussion was about a claimant who had the DLA mobility component removed on the contents of a ten month old medical report, the same principle about the time lapse is still pertinent to your claim.

A medical report compiled almost six months ago for another allowance or even the same allowance to decide a current DLA claim is absurd. If for example, when the report was completed you had 'x' amount of health problems, and some time thereafter there was a marked deterioration in your health, which as you say was the reason for your DLA claim, then the report has to be deemed irrelevant and without force.

Fair-mindedness dictates that if you report a deterioration in your health to claim (another) benefit, it is imperative that up-to-date medical evidence is sought to determine your medical condition at the time of claim, not almost six months previous to that date as in your circumstances.

Your case certainly has some of the features of the one referred to in the afore-mentioned thread, and the use of out-of-date medical reports has to be denounced in no uncertain terms, if there is any justice left in the benefit system of which I have serious doubts nowadays!

You ought to get a copy of the ATOS report they are relying on and see if it reflects what you said and what happened at the medical As part of your appeal you might like to take issue with the contents, particularly if you have evidence from your own Gp and therapist is supportive of you.

I agree with the general view that atos reports used many months later are of questionable value and certainly when thete has been a deteoration.

Please type into google DWP A to Z of medical conditions. Look up yours, the sort of problems it brings and care needs and prognosis. The prognosis guides DM's on award length and prognosis and award length are related

Its worth a read, and if what has happened in your case is at odds with the prognosis and award length mentioned there, you can raise it Those guidlinees are not binding but potentially useful to you

lochlisa wrote:

my DLA claim has been refused based on an ATOS medical that is almost 6 months old.

SInce that old medical there has been a deterioration but the DWP have not asked my GP for a report nor asked me to take a new medical.

It is very unlikely, due to my condition, that I will be able to attend an appeal in person, although I have been advised it is very unlikely any oral appeal will be held until March 2011 !

I have asked my GP for a support letter which he is doing for me and my therapist is going to do something similar as well.

Now, I know that oral appeals have a higher chance of winning but I really dont think I will be in a position to attend an oral hearing.

What should I do now?

thank you for any help,

Lisa

you might be sicker now than you was 6 months ago, but is the illness such that to them it would make a differance to what they have done ?

the fact they did not ask your gp for a report could mean they think a six month old report is good enough

has your gp needed to change your medication or send you for more tests in the last six months or told you to do anything different to take into account your change in condition ?

XFACTOR wrote:

Please type into google DWP A to Z of medical conditions. Look up yours, the sort of problems it brings and care needs and prognosis. The prognosis guides DM's on award length and prognosis and award length are related

I've just looked up the prognosis guides to all my health conditions. I don't think the DWP take a blind bit of notice of their own guides.

They have only one prognosis for all health conditions, and that's 'better in six months'.