- Posts: 351
atos medical - unable to attend
- incap99
- Topic Author
you tell atos and dwp that you are inable to attend and you have a ltter form your doctor stating you are unable to attend.
both atos and dwp see the gps letter.
however it is atos who decide (in my case) if you still have to attend or not.
my question is this:
if you have medical evidence that you can not attend, surely it should be up to a decision maker to decided if you can or can not attend that medical, and not a private medical company?
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- originaldave
atos ask you to attend a medical.
you tell atos and dwp that you are inable to attend and you have a ltter form your doctor stating you are unable to attend.
both atos and dwp see the gps letter.
however it is atos who decide (in my case) if you still have to attend or not.
my question is this:
if you have medical evidence that you can not attend, surely it should be up to a decision maker to decided if you can or can not attend that medical, and not a private medical company?
Does the letter say you cant attend in those words,or do they say your not fit in there opinon ? or words to that affect ? If its just there view you should not go, then the decsion stays with DWP/atos IMO they dont have to agree with your doc, unless not agreeing puts you at risk ?
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- incap99
- Topic Author
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- Jeff1
- Offline
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- incap99
- Topic Author
the appointment i did not go to, i now have to show good cause for not attending.
im trying to find out if atos have any legal right to say i still had of attended the paoointment, when i belive dwp had enough enough evidence to cancel the appointment.
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- Crazydiamond
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- Posts: 2022
It is up to the decision maker to decide whether you have exercised good cause and not Atos. They can only inform the DWP of your non-attendance. The decision maker should consider all the medical evidence with may give rise to your non-attendance. It is crucial to emphasise that your doctor gave his opinion based upon an examination of the current state of your mental health, whereas Atos simply gave an opinion on whether or not you could attend by scrutiny of an ESA50 and/or your doctor's letter.
It is likely that the ESA decision maker will uncritically accept the opinion of Atos in preference to that of your doctor, and you probably won't be made fully aware of the reason why, unless you appeal any adverse decision. This has just recently been criticised by the Social Security Advisory Committee, as it is patently wrong to reject evidence from a doctor who may have been treating you for many years for a health condition.
If all the evidence is given due consideraation however, the facts are that you have an illness which prevented from attending, and that in itself is a valid ground to demonstrate good cause. Unfortunately, DWP decision makers can be a law unto themselves, and that is why there an increasing number of appeals at the present time with sickness/disability benefits.
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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