TURNED DOWN FOR ESA

aquaman

just recieved letter in the post today
stating that i had got zero points in esa medical
i had a tkr in june 2009 at age of 43 an because of the manual nature of my work i had to give up job
have been having hip pain for 12 months but only for the last four months have begun doing physio
last week i found out that i may have a prolapsed disc in my lower back and i am waiting to see a spinal specialist
could any one advise me on what to do next

aquaman

frogmorton

Aquaman

there is a thread somewhere lower down about all this stuff that keeps on happening to us it's called atos dla dwp or something - willl 'bump it up' for you

elainebadknee

Aquaman

In your letter that says how many points you did or didnt get awarded at medical there should be advice on what to do if you dont agree with the decision......You can then get in touch with a solicitor, free of charge who will decide whether or not to take your case....Basically, you appeal, ESA is reinstated right away and the process takes yonks......But the solicitor does all the work for you....

Good luck, been through it myself and overturned it so go on!!

Elainex

PS.....Just a wee tip here...But messages written in capital letters can be seen as shouting by some......

patriciamary

Hi AQUAMAN

Appeal. Get your docs to provide as much information as they can. Provide this info to the ESA people, and hope that you have seen the back specialist before the appeal date.

Its disgusting the way most of us are treated. As usual if they concentrated on the scroungers then people like us would be getting the help we so badly need.

If Atos employed a few people with arther they would soon realise that most of the time you cant see it, but pain doesnt show.

Hope all goes well for you.

Regards
Trisha

aquaman

patriciamary wrote:

Hi AQUAMAN

Appeal. Get your docs to provide as much information as they can. Provide this info to the ESA people, and hope that you have seen the back specialist before the appeal date.

Its disgusting the way most of us are treated. As usual if they concentrated on the scroungers then people like us would be getting the help we so badly need.

If Atos employed a few people with arther they would soon realise that most of the time you cant see it, but pain doesnt show.

Hope all goes well for you.

Regards
Trisha

thank you for your kinds words

dorcas

Hi aquaman,

so sorry that you too have fallen victim to the nightmarish process that is ESA & ATOS.

good advice already provided . but just wanted to add a little bit to what has been said.

As you disagree with the decision you have the right to

1. ask for an explanation of dwp's decision. (either in writing or by phone)
2. ask for a copy of the ATOS medical assessment. (you will need this!)
3. ask for dwp to 'Reconsider' their decision. (this is a step you can choose to take before going to appeal.)
4. appeal. If after reconsidering the decision dwp have not changed their decision about your entitlement to ESA you can then still appeal and go to an appeals tribunal.

With steps 3 & 4 I would strongly suggest you attach any medical reports, physio, ortho, GP reports etc and take the time to go through the ATOS medical assessment line by line noting areas of disagreement and saying why you think that these elements are wrong. Attach all of this information to your letter asking for Reconsideration/ Appeal Application.

I contacted my MP and he was incredibly supportive... so maybe you could enlist the support of your MP too?

Elaine had the help of a solicitor and had the decision changed which was great! so hopefully that would be a resource available to you too ... or you could contact CAB or a Welfare Rights Officer.

Nikscat have also just had an ESA decision overturned at the reconsideration stage..... so that gives us hope too!!

so you are not alone aquaman, that's for sure.

I'm still waiting for dwp to finish 'reconsidering' their decision and if it's still rubbish then I will be moving on to appeal.

Good luck with this.

Iris xxx

barbara12

Hi Aquaman
I cant add anything to what our lovely Iris has said, just to say we are all here for you, put your appeal in.
And let us know how you get on.
Barbara x

carola

Sorry to hear this aquaman.

I too rec'd zero points at ESA 'medical' - eh??????

Iris has given good advice to follow.

Remember to request a copy of the FULL report. I had to keep chasing my copy and it was full of 'inaccuracies'.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Carol

sharmaine

Hi Aquaman

I'm surprised they turned you down especially with the restrictions of a TKR which is never the same as a normal knee. Is your other knee affected?

You should have lots of points for not being able to bend or stand/sitfor long lengths of time. I think you can do a practice application online. Did they tell you what points you scored?

Make sure you appeal.

Sharmaine

penfactor

Definitely appeal! The other advice here is spot on so only really adding my encouragement for you not let this go & bumping it up the charts for you!
pennie