esa medical

[lollypop]

well wot a farce!22 minutes coming in assess me&out the door!i was asked questions that id already filled in,she didnt look at my spine scars,look at my muscle wasting leg,all i had to do was 4steps&squeese her hand&try to raise my arms above my head(which i couldnt do)she quered the results from radiolgy,by asking me have you osteoahrtis or fyb.i said both!if i fail i shall make sure all the hospital support will be told(we made sure we showed every result from hospitals appointments)&wipe the floor with her,it was pathectic!good thing or bad thing ?who knows!if you are being assesed look online theres lots to read up,did you know some have been sacked?&some are being investigated for fraud?hmmm makes you wonder doesnt it!oh &we recorded it all!hugs everyone relieved its over till the brown envelope comes.....x

[fibrodude]

Oh dear, that sounds awful. Hopefully the silly assessor will put you through anyway. It is so sad that we have to rely on so many inept people just to get help. Sorry it semed a farce. Good luck anyway. And yes, if it goes the wrong way...kick off!!!

[jazher]

HI lollypop,

Good luck with it hun, and you will have to let us know what the dreaded brown envelope says.

It so hard fighting isnt it. I am just starting my dla fight. i havent even filled the forms in yet and i am already dreading it lol.

hugs, kel xxx

[lollypop in reply to jazher]

hi jazher,are you having help to fill in the forms?they are mindboggling!just remember fill it in as if your on your worse day &have no meds!hugs xx

[jazher in reply to lollypop]

Yeah this time i am as i got turned down last time but that was before i found out i had ME aswell. So a nice lady from the ME association is comming on friday to help me. Apparently she does them for a job and knows all the right words to put. HUgs, kel xxx

[kimbell]

Hi Lollypop, I had an assessment for esa last May, very similar experience, although I could do all the movements they required, needless to say I failed to score the 15 points required. I got 9. I challenged this and managed to get some NI contributions based payments out of them, and was told that I would have to take it to the tribunal - this never happened as you only get paid for 365 days and that came around quicker than getting a date for the hearing!

I had to fight for that money every step of the way, usually by just telephoning them and stating my case. The money has stopped now because my husband earns too much! Never mind that I had to give up my job, my independence, a whole chunk of my life because of this illness. I've had my year's worth of money, but I will have God knows how many years of pain and fatigue to come?!!

Give them hell Lollypop. Good Luck and take care, love Kimbell x

[lollypop in reply to kimbell]

hi kimbell,its along slog just to get anything we deserve&intitled too!my hubbys my carer so not much money as it is!its hard on him too giving up a job to be with me 24/7,he is a wonderfull caring hubby,im lucky he understands my pains&moans.well all i can do is wait!nero appt.in june to look forward to as well!hugs x

[lyn-elliott]

i hope the brown envelope when it comes contains good news im fighting the decision made over 15 months ago and my claim for dla was turned down due to the report of the physio that assessed me and said there is nothing wrong with me and im fit for work i have fm me/cfs osteoarthritis depression insomnia ibs and a multitude of other syndromes but i appealed to esa i have again claimed dla and again been refused on the basis of that assessment so im waiting to go to tribunal with them also all we can do is fight fight and carry on fighting regardless of it causing more problems for us i wish they could see that and i would like to see any of them live 1 week in the body that gives pain in places you didnt know and stops you walking. sleeping, concentrating and all the other various things us fibroites live with on a dayly basis

love and gentle hugs

lyn

i really do wish you well hun we have to show it to them xxxx

[lollypop in reply to lyn-elliott]

hi lyn-elliott,im sorry your going through this not easy when pain takes over your life!she was like some person off the street,not at all like a dr!well time will tell,i will fight,i walked into hospital&came out disabled,i didnt ask to loose my job&life&now FB thrown in to!solider on hugs to you xx

[Butterfly54]

Sorry to hear you have had such a rotten time of it with this.

But glad to hear they are investigating them as have heard that they get £80 for everyone they fail.

So you can see why we are all having such a hard time of it as it`s money for old rope isn`t it.

Love and Hugs Butterly xxxx

[lollypop]

hi Butterfly54,yeah its disgusting,money shouldnt come into it profit off disabled people!several agents including atos are bidding to take over disability benifit,so more of us will get hit!wot makes me mad is drug addicts dont have to be assesed!slog on i will,if id known yrs ago i would have sued the nhs,but cant dwell on it!hugs xxx

[Ang01]

Hi Lollypop, I had a medical along the same lines as you the first time and had to take it to appeal cos he didn't score me any points. At appeal I only got through the first 10 questions and already had over the 15 points I needed. Fortunately the second medical was far better and I had a lovely assessor, from that medical I was put into the support group. Not all the people doing the medicals are doctors though, don't know if you knew that?

I think the fee they get paid is more like £100 per assessment Chris as when I had a doctor to the house he dropped a claim form which had £100 on it. He whipped it back up as quick as you like and hid it from sight!!.

I hope things go well for you Lollypop but if not you must put in an appeal and get someone like the CAB to help you. I thought I had read or heard somewhere that they didn't do the walking test etc. now, I didn't have it in my second medical. Take care, love Angela xx

[lollypop in reply to Ang01]

hi thxs ang,how long to appeal was it for you?she said she was a dr.but anyways have to wait,but will fight it for sure,shouldnt have to go through this kind of crap.in pain tonite knee killing me again!hugs xx

[anjie]

Good luck x

[lollypop in reply to anjie]

thank you x

[Ang01]

Cant remember exactly how long it was Lollypop but I know it took months and months and they paid me loads of backdated money. As a matter of interest, do you know what the specialty of the doctor you saw was as it does say that the person doing the medical should be knowledgable of your illnesses. The first doctor I saw was a retired occupational health doctor then I had a retired GP and the last person was a nurse and she was the best of all of them. Before the medical started I asked her if she was aware of the illnesses I had and if not should we be going ahead with the consultation.

It is crap we have to go through all this and we shouldn't have to but that is what they want, they make it so hard in the hope that people will give up.

Be brave and strong and fight it all the way! Love Angela xx

[lollypop in reply to Ang01]

morning ang01,she was a dr.of occupational medicine,like health&safty for disabilty in the work place!well nothing i can do but i will appeal most definate if failed!failed or passed shouldnt come into it cos i am disabled&i have fb&ahritis!fedup today,slept bad in pain.thxs ang for your answer hugs xxx

[Hidden]

you haven't said lollypop, but have you phoned the DWP and asked for a copy of the medical assessment. You are entitled to have a copy of this as its your way to dispute early if needed, what was written down. some people have found that the answers given on the report were the opposite to what they had said.

It can take up to about 6 weeks to get the decision so its worth asking for this in the mean time…. I am waiting on my decision too and the stress of the waiting is really getting to me.

Good luck hugs roz xxx

[lollypop in reply to Hidden]

morning rozzyb,ok i will ask for a copy,in all the stress i forgot!im on it now!just rang them they said havnt got the report but when they do i can have a copy!well i will ring again friday that gives them time !!!!thxs hugs xx

[Hidden]

mine came through in about a week, so hopefully you shouldnt have to wait too long. Its better to have all the info esp as you are now entitled to see what they have written. hope it comes through soon xx

[webby]

Hope this helps but i was recently told that you can request a specialist in fibro to assess you. And some other advice i was given is always get cab to help you fill the forms in as you get scored on that to. hope this helps good luck

[Angelherb]

Hi i was reading your story and it just took me back...i went through the exact same thing. I have fibro, osteoarthritis, graves disease etc lol..i was put on ESA in feb 2010 had a medical from the most rudest bitch of doc ive ever met, got turned down so i appealed, i was currently going to 3 different hospitals working minimal hours and a part time student, anyway the endo tried to book me in for RAI but i couldnt as i had complained to the ESA about my treatment and demanded i was seen by another doc. I was on a mission lol.

In the meantime i was very ill and 6st 6lb, my gp wrote to them and told them i had to have my treatment asap, so they gave me a date for another medical, i walked in guns blazing and the doc said who sent you here? i replied the ESA he didnt even check me said he could tell i was very ill and put me on the sick for 2 years. Its due for review in feb 2013, in the meantime my health is still bad and after the radiation ive ended up thyroid eye disease! so another hospital trip every 6 wks! my doc has told me to apply for DLA so the form is away, im not expecting good news because they are only there to prove you wrong! I can still only work minimal and am doing a part time degree so am trying to get on with it.

Anyway i understand what your going through and good luck, by the way the benefits and work website is great if you havent already looked at it. xx

[Hidden]

Lollypop, sorry you had a distressing time, was discussing esa examiners etc with my doctor yesterday, and he said the thing that he finds the most annoying is that it's non medical people that decide who's getting what, and it's not right, try and have a good night's rest Lollypop and take care xx Claire xx