Channel 4 News this evening - regarding ATOS

[John_Mills]

If you have not seen Channel 4 news this evening... regarding ATOS Assessments...please watch Channel 4 +1 ....

[John_Mills Volunteer]

channel4.com/news/disabilit...

[Regie79]

Thank you for sharing the link John and Susan.

Paul

[John_Mills Volunteer]

guardian.co.uk/society/2012... this was in August...

[Derek]

Didn't watch programme but have registered my concerns with our MP since reading the article about the ex Atos whistleblower nurse.

[Elainekay42]

Hi, my 21 year old son who suffers from Asperger was subjected to this ATOS assessment yesterday and here is a copy of my complaint!!!

Hi,

after waiting over an hour to be seen today with my son who has

Aspergers and is currently very ill with Vasculitis and a strangulated

hernia that he is refusing treatment for,We finally saw an assessor who

was totally unapproachable and uninterested in my sons current health

problems.

I tried to explain that Dan had been admitted to hospital last

Wednesday and was still very unwell (he absconded from the hospital as

due to his Aspergers he cannot cope in strange environments). Our

consultant, Dr Hilary Longhurst (Google her!) was even telling us to

call the police to locate him and try and get him back to the ward as

his condition could cause permanent blindness and she considered Dan to

be vulnerable.

This assessor (who did not even tell me his name) would not allow me to

explain and was uninterested with my sons current health. As requested

I had brought with me letters and e-mails from my sons consultant which

have to be relevant to a health assessment which he refused to read and

kept telling me to "stop battling him" when I said it was important he

looked at them. He refused to read them.

I told him my son was diagnosed in A&E Wednesday night with having

Temporal Arteris and he just snapped "he is not old enough to have

that" Perhaps our top consultant at Barts Hospital has a different

view. How dare he, after refusing to even ask about my sons health

dismiss a diagnosis by somebody who specialises in Dan's illness!!!! My

son is traditionally too young to Have Barretts Esophagus but he has

that too!!!!

Most of the appointment was this doctor spouting on about he is not a

decision maker and just does a report. I could not accept you can do a

report on somebody's health if you wont look at the information?

Dan is in constant agony with the hernia and cannot walk more than a

few yards without being in agony but he was not even asked about this.

All this so called doctor wanted to know if he could make a sandwich.

Dan cannot read (he can read the words but his comprehension does not

go past a sentence) or write due to his learning difficulties. When

asked this I tried to explain but was yet again rudely interrupted.

This arrogant man said "Gypsies" cant read or write. I took offence to

this as this cultural group should be referred to as Travelers and with

education are generally capable of learning to read or write where my

son is not.

Every time I tried to talk to him he kept on saying "stop battling me

and we can get this done quicker". I ended up in tears (frustration and

despair over my sons illness) and his attitude was that this was not

helping matters.

I told him my son was suicidal and waiting for an emergency referral to

his psychiatrist. Dan confirmed he wanted to harm himself. The assessor

asked how long he had been depressed and and did take note that Dan had

been sectioned in the past.

When he asked me why I was so upset I said it was because I believe I

will lose my son to his illness and refusal of treatment or suicide.

His response was that everybody has a choice and agreed with my 21 year

old son that we all have to die sometime!!!! He was, I felt,

sanctioning my son's misheld belief that ending his life was the only

option for him.

I am disgusted that somebody as unwell as my son has been dismissed by

this arrogant man who was writing a report with no details in it about

how ill my son is. Yes he can make an sandwich , he also said yes to

most of the other questions as he had just switched off and was

desperate to leave. This makes a mockery of the whole assessment.

I have spent the rest of today crying as I feel he has encouraged my

son to attempt to take his own life again. I work so hard to teach Dan

that this is not the answer but to have this sanctioned by a Doctor may

now push him to do it. Daniel walked out of the building and I had to

go searching for him before I could go back and get the copies of the

information I had bought with me.

Dan has now said he will never attend another medical appointment due

to the stress caused today which will hinder his safety in the future.

Dan was unmanageable for the rest of the day with anger outbursts as he

was upset that this man made me cry. His depression is out of control

even though your assessor was not interested.

I now know Panorama was right about the way this service is operating

even though I went into it with an open mind. Dan's last assessment was

nothing like this and I am disgusted with your organisation. He also

told me we would have to appeal as because Dan passed his driving test

(Aspergers obsession) and we allowed him to drive to his Nan's 4

minutes from our house he was "high functioning". He clearly has no

understanding of Aspergers and the challenges faced daily by family

member's.

Can you please respond to me and investigate this matter without delay?

My sons illness is destroying a whole family at the moment and to have

it minimized and ignored by this man was a heartbreaking experience.

If the assessor has the view that "Gypsies cannot read or right" I am

concerned about his suitability for this position as he clearly knows

nothing of the Traveller Community (I work closely with Essex Count

Council Traveler Liaison service) and he is in breach of the law by

indirectly discriminating this group of people.

So, I am very upset and If my son now makes the decision to end his

life I will have to put forward todays assessment as a contributory

cause.

I look forward to hearing from you.