I have a health assessment with ATOS ... - Lung Conditions C...
I have a health assessment with ATOS as part of the PIP/DLA process. What sort of things will they ask me?
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Hi
As you are only the third person going into this stage over the next few weeks
There little in the way of factual information .
Benifitandworks have a detailed fact sheet , but you have to subscribe,
It appears to be very informative ?
Many people used similar with there DLA claims.
hi bugs, ive been threw a atos assessment not for dla yet(its coming) but for incapacity benefit,..i'm sorry to say its a awful experience,.they will look for any way to throw you off!i'm not trying to scare you i'm just being honest..they are not interested in how ill or what way copd affects you its all about if you get enough points..the so called healthcare professional is paid by how many people they get off the benefit?..i'm not making this up!..i was thrown off i.b. I waited 15mths for my appeal..i won (just) but it was one of the worst experiences in my life atos are the bane of disabled peoples lives..no matter how much documentation I had from doctor or consultants..they said I was fit for work ..I have severe copd, and have to have a carer i'm on d.l a(I don't think for much longer....we have soldiers with no limbs being told they are fit for work?..my advice to you is be ready to appeal..its your best chance of remaining on the new pip...I hope i'm wrong ,..for your sake
Hi your best bet is to ring BLF on their helpline. Number is on the site. They should be able to help you with this. We have a member called Gordon who is pretty expert on this but I haven't seen him for ages. I think he is staying away at the moment due to the previous trouble on here.
Good luck with it all.
Bev x
Join the queue BugsBunny, apparently I'm the first on here for the PIP face-to-face assessment. I'm a little confused that you say ATOS is doing the PIP/DLA assessment.
They are in fact separate (PIP and DLA). Not sure who does the DLA assessment for those that got in before the changeover to PIP, but I know for sure that it is CAPITA that are doing the PIP assessments. ATOS did my ESA assessment last year - and unfortunately Tony66 is right in what he says.
Best to be clear what it is exactly that you are being assessed for - PIP or DLA (the same but different?!!)
If it's PIP, keep us posted. I'm still waiting on confirmation of my face-to-face for next week and will fill all in when it's done with!
Jean 
Thanks all of you for replying. It is a PIP assessment I am going to on 9th August and it is ATOS that are doing the assessments in Manchester. I have seen both ATOS and CAPITA in the past when I got early retirement from the Civil Service so I know what they are like. I just wondered whether they quiz you about the PIP form or whether they take a different line of questioning. I am going to phone DWP to ask why I need to attend a consultation and at the same time I will ask for the information pack and DVD. I will report back afterwards.
Have a good day.
Mandy
Hiya BB...
It looks like I might have to go through the very same thing then. I have been on benefits since June/July 2005 which included DLA for life. I was getting the lower rate Motorbility and when I was diagnosed with COPD I was advised I could apply for the higher rate so I did. Not only was the application rejected - the Motorbility was stopped altogether even though I need it even more now. Let me share with you why it was stopped - I filled in the application using details from the past and then added the COPD information.
What I have found (and this is only the beginning for me) is they sort of 'cheat' on you using the fact that (for instance) 'You can walk 40 metres...' .My response to that is 'I may well be able to walk 40 metres but it is what happens in walking that 40 metres. My driveway is two car lengths from my front door to the pavement - just walking that distance has me having problems breathing. I cannot hoover my home standing so I have to sit on the floor to do it and I cannot change my sheets and pillow cases and remake the bed in one go - it takes three to four stages for me to do it. You can be rest assured they will say (if I have to appear before someone) that because I can do it even in unusual ways the fact is I can do it. I cannot go into my local Tesco's store because of the air conditioning in there.
I have told you about those things because I just want to forewarn you. In my own case (as with any application I have made or the CAB has made on my behalf) the use of being a Mental Health patient has helped me tremendously. Since 2005 I have been 'summoned' for 3 medical checks but my GP has intervened and I have been excused them.
If or when you have to attend prior to entering the building - stand outside and calm yourself down. If you can be positive within you can be positive when you go in.
Luv'n'hugs to you
Paws XXX
Hi Bugs bunny
try not to worry too much about the assessment. It is true that you have to score so many points on the assessment criteria but it is not true that the person assessing you is paid according to whether they find you satisfy or don't satisfy the criteria. I do know people who have worked for ATOS and this really is an unfair thing to say about them. Mostly I would say that they don't enjoy the job as they have to work according to a criteria that they don't necessarily believe in or agree with but is imposed by the DWP and the government. They are mostly very understanding people who will do their best for you and understand the devastating effects of your disease. I understand that not all will be as sympathetic as others and it is a shame some people have had a bad experience. There is an appeals process if the decision is not in your favour and I would advise you to visit your GP to document your limitations and medication plus specialist input so that you can provide this evidence at the appeal. Try not to take it personally if the assessor doesn't award you enough points they are unfortunately just trying to stick to rules imposed on them not written by them guess they are as popular as the taxman no body likes them either. Anyway good luck an if you have to appeal so be it am sure they will find in your favour so try not to worry
dear Bugs It has been some time now how have you got on with your applications or are you still waiting?
I hope it has not been too tiresome a process.
I would beinterested to know as I think I could be going down th same route as you.
I currently work for my local authority and at 53 with COPD chronic asthma and Emphasemia I am finding work increasingly difficult. I seem to be off sick more times than I am there this year. At present people are very supportive but I have pushed myself as far as I can go now with recurrent chest infections. In September when I had just come back from holiday felt very guilty about going off sick again i tried to keep going but now I am off with pneumonia and wont be back to work until December. I will be going to meet with the authorities Occupational Health Doctor next week so that should be interesting and probably the beginning of a stressful and tiresome process no doubt.
I wish you well and would like to keep in touch to hear how you got on and hopefully benifit from your experience.
With Kind regards Irene
Dear Hopetorun
I finally went for my ATOS Health assessment at the end of October. ATOS cancelled both my August and September appointments. They told me after the interview I would have to wait 8 weeks for a decision on PIP. My tips for the actual assessment are:
(1) Read through your PIP form the night before the assessment. The nurse or doctor will ask you to take them through a typical day. You need to tell them which activities or tasks you find difficult, any aids you use to be mobile and any help from carers you receive (or would like to receive).
(2) If you have more than one disease then decide beforehand which is your main disease. I have two lung diseases (PAH and ILD which are both life limiting) but the nurse made me choose one of them as there is only room for one on her computerised form.
(3) At the end of the assessment they ask you to do some movements with your arms and legs. This is not an opportunity to show them how athletic you are! Even if you get the slightest twinge tell them you have difficulty doing the particular movement.
(4) Don't expect too much. The interviewer is not someone who has a deep understanding of your medical conditions, it is someone who has a bit of medical knowledge and who can fill in a computerised form. (Although when I went through the early retirement process I did see doctors who knew about my conditions.) Also, most people get awarded PIP on appeal. not the first time round.
I hope this helps.
Kind Regards
Mandy
Interesting to read the update, particularly as I am just about to embark upon the PIP journey myself. 
I applied for DLA, my second attempt, in June 2012 and have only just ended the long process of appeals right through to a tribunal judge. I was refused leave to appeal to the upper tribunal so that's the end of that. Originally I was refused anything at all, so appealed. They sent an ATOS doctor to see me at home, after his report I got 'indefinite' low rate care component. The tribunal panel reduced that to 2 years saying that I would 'get better'. Showing their ignorance of COPD.
Since that application I've become worse in that I've had another bout of pleurisy earlier this year and since then I've become even more restricted in how far I can go before being SOB and distressed. Strange that the word 'distressed' is used by the DWP so much, yet it's definition is so flexible and can be (mis) used in many ways by them.
One thing I learned with my DLA experience was that they will try and dismiss the evidence if there is any conflict. I was once asked by my GP where I placed myself on the MRC scale (nice.org.uk/usingguidance/c... and said '4 to 5'. On the report the tribunal had it was only shown as '4'. so they took that as me saying I could easily walk 100 metres ! I had had several spirometry tests, some at the hospital, some at my GP's. The COPD nurse knows that the results will fluctuate in a patient with both COPD and Asthma, but the panel determined that the lowest results should be dismissed as some higher ones had been reported later !
I had taken great pains to read the DWP decisions makers guide so I would understand how they looked at a person's ability to walk a given distance, taken into account the need to stop to get their breath back and recover. The doctor on the panel asked about visiting the x-ray department, at our hospital it's quite some distance from the entrance and out-patients area. I explained that on one occasion it had taken about 90 minutes before I eventually reached the department, having stopped 4 times at courtesy seating areas to rest and get my breath. The next time I asked the A&E reception for a porter and wheelchair as I wasn't going to wear myself out like that again. She decided that as I had been able to cover that distance on my own that 'Reg 12' did not apply !
Regulation 12 of the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 1991 is further expanded in the DWP Decision Makers Guide. I take this to be guidelines given to benefit assessors to be able to make their decision, replacing where the act states " Regulation 12.(1) A person is to be taken to satisfy the conditions mentioned in section 73 (1)(a) of the Act (unable or virtually unable to walk) only in the following circumstances — - (ii) his ability to walk out of doors is so limited, as regards the distance over which or the speed at which or the length of time for which or the manner in which he can make progress on foot without severe discomfort, that he is virtually unable to walk" with many paragraphs of explanation of the meaning of the act. **
** See gov.uk/government/uploads/s... at para 61276 for a fuller explanation
There were many more areas where I had given facts and they discounted them, saying that other evidence overruled. The one things that they refused to take into account, yet the new PIP guidelines do, was having good days and bad days. for my DLA they would only look at good days, if I could walk to the bus stop (50 yards) in 15 minutes then that was good enough. The fact that i said I could not even get past the garden gate on a bad day just didn't count.
So, PIP here I came and I have been doing a LOT of reading. I found a sample of the PIP2 form, the one they send out to fill in about your illness and abilities. I've now arranged an appointment with my GP to go over this and avoid any misunderstandings like we had last time. I've also written to the senior physiotherapist at the hospital to get him to be the 'spokesperson' for the treatment I have had there. I've seen four different consultants in the last 2 years and they simply cannot 'know' a patient they've only seen the once.
Although I considered myself to be well versed in the application process for DLA, my experience and failure to get the allowance is being used to make darned sure I get some outside help with filling in the PIP application !
Gordon
I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience when you applied for DLA. Good luck with your application for PIP.
Regards
Mandy
I am getting more scared i go on Friday for interview with ATOS on the 8th july 2016 my car lease is up in Sep , i was on DLA for life but after Friday my life mite as well be up i have quite a few thing wrong with me, Arthritis, had both hips and knees replaced still have a lot of pain in right hip i go for injections in it had my right knee done 2 times as it did not go right the first time, and still can not use it right , i have spondylitis in the spine and neck , i have a condition Tiredness and fatigue, i want to sleep all the time i have not got a life for it, i can go to the toilet at night and fall to sleep on it talking to people i fall to sleep could be for a couple of minuets then wake up and carry in the conversion and laughing and coughing syncope were i pass out i can control the laughing now but not the coughing one , i had a heart attack 18 years ago ,,,i will be 65 in 12 days
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