I was surprised by my HCA today. I had been dreading it and had metaphorically armed myself with all the information and advice I could beforehand. The staff at the HDAS in [south Somerset town] were polite, empathetic and had already called me the day previously to double check I could make it. They confirmed my request to have audio recording of the assessment.
It was a nurse who was assessing me – they did delay me for 10 minutes to double check if it should be a Doctor or Nurse led WCA. As it happened she said about 8 minutes into my assessment she didn’t even need to do the full assessment as it was obvious I qualified for ESA (SG). She remarked that she thought that would be the outcome from reading my ESA50 supplied July 2014 and the medical reports etc I had enclosed with it. It seemed to me that she had already read my paperwork thoroughly.
She asked her manager for permission to halt the interview and send the report recommending immediate support group status. She advised me that the reason I’d been called in for a face to face WCA was because it has been a long time since my last [awful! 1997 ATOS – successfully appealed] SDA medical. She did say my future reviews would probably take place on paper every 3 years. I found her a genuinely ‘nice’ person who apologised for spending so much time looking away to type the answers into her program.
I do not have a terminal illness and can (just about) walk but using 1 or 2 sticks. I also made sure I had a fair amount of evidence and details of a long medical history.
As far as my experience of previous DWP medicals informs me, it could not have gone better apart from the time lapse between being informed of migration from SDA to ESA. This took over one year from filling in the ESA50 to WCA assessment but my payments of SDA were regular with no problems. I feel very relieved and lucky!
I was pleasantly surprisedby my HCA today. I had been dreading it. The staff at the HDAS in [south Somerset town] were polite, empathetic and had already called me the day previously to double check I could make it. They confirmed my request to have audio recording of the assessment.
It was a nurse who was assessing me – they did delay me for 10 minutes to double check if it should be a Doctor or Nurse led WCA. As it happened she said about 8 minutes into my assessment she didn’t even need to do the full assessment as it was obvious I qualified for ESA (SG). She remarked that she thought that would be the outcome from reading my ESA50 supplied July 2014 and the medical reports etc I had enclosed with it. It seemed to me that she had already read my paperwork thoroughly.
She asked her manager for permission to halt the interview and send the report recommending immediate support group status. She advised me that the reason I’d been called in for a face to face WCA was because it has been a long time since my last [awful! 1997 ATOS – successfully appealed] SDA medical. She did say my future reviews would probably take place on paper every 3 years. I found her a genuinely ‘nice’ person who apologised for spending so much time looking away to type the answers into her program.
I do not have a terminal illness and can (just about) walk but using 1 or 2 sticks. I also made sure I had a fair amount of evidence and details of a long medical history.
As far as my experience of previous DWP medicals informs me, it could not have gone better apart from the time lapse between being informed of migration from SDA to ESA. This took over one year from filling in the ESA50 to WCA assessment but my payments of SDA were regular with no problems. I feel very relieved and lucky!
My disability/condition is spinal back injuries, chronic back/knee pain & leg injuries going on for 10+ years.
I’ve been waiting since June/2013 for my 1st ESA WCA. I was on £72.40 for 2 years! Unbelievable but the truth. The same month & year that my DLA was stolen from me by Atos/DWP.
I should’ve had a WCA after 13 weeks of claim; that turned into 2 years (104 weeks!). If my advisor didn’t contact DWP/Maximus (May/2015) then I would still be on the same ESA amount & waiting for WCA.
My legal representative also helped me to win my DLA tribunal case in May/2015 after it got rejected by a previous corruptible HMCTS panel in June/2013.
The DWP said to my advisor that I had to notify them to arrange WCA? Since when was that the case? What a joke.
Anyway I received a quick response letter in June/2015 for a home visit for June/2015. I proceeded to call the main Maximus office to request an audio recording at home on the same day of receiving the letter. The call centre said they could do it, but if not they would request to move the date to another day (meaning Croydon centre visit). I stipulated that I would record the meeting at home (it is within my legal right to do so). Also I would give an audio copy to Maximus for their perusal. Maximus said that the recording had to be simultaneously. Talking to a brick corporate money grabbing wall.
The Maximus Dr visited me at home June/2015. They were very polite & nice to me like the previous Atos HCP was who decided to falsify the report in June/2013.
The Maximus Dr didn’t have a recorder as I requested. But the WCA still went ahead with me signing the usual consent form of death at the start. The WCA was very brief & they went. I was shocked to find out that I had been put in the support group for 2 years (how ironic) & I would be getting 2 years backdated money paid to me. That’s another story to tell on how long that took (ages & loads of lying by the DWP again on payments).
If it wasn’t for my family & advisors; I would’ve been in major financial trouble, homeless or starving. Not everyone is as lucky as me. I am disgusted with this whole process. I have worked hard all my life, like many others & now I am very sick this is the way the Tory Government wants to treat me.
Even If I had never worked we must look after our sick & vulnerable! NO WAY am I taking this draconian nastiness. These WCA’s should end now! I can see why this drives good honest people to suicide. It’s evil, never ending & it brings you down to depression, but keep fighting them, as there is always hope. There is always light at the end of the tunnel and you can beat them. Keep exposing their hatefulness & lies. Take care X.
My assessment was due on June 10, a home visit had been arranged after a long battle with the DWP over whether I was entitled to one, then in the end they gave way but the home visit was mysteriously cancelled after I questioned them over HCP’s special training they claimed they have for my type of assessment, I demanded the assessment be recorded and after they failed to disclose the details of the special training, I informed them I would question the HCP at assessment regarding their special training.
I first received an email from the centre for health and disability assessment informing me they do not wish to see me and that my file had been sent back to the DWP with a medical advise report, the DWP sent me mail shortly after saying I’ve been put in the support group and to inform them if my circumstances change. I find this very odd as they fought tooth and nail to get me assessed but then dropped it like a ton of bricks.
I have requested a copy of the medical advise report and for them to identify the special training the HCP had apparently received, I am still waiting for this information.
I had my ESA assessment on June 8th 2015, It seemed at the time by the so called arthritic nurse seemed to make it not so nerve racking as before and telling at the time that they are the professionals. I at the time said we will wait and see on the out come of this assessment. it looked at the time like she was typing what i was saying, but alas she hadn’t like the other times each year i have been made the appointment for an assessment every year as it never got passed. that I have had to make a new claim on ESA to get my money as it has been stopped in the last four years. Up to 9 or so weeks with out any money itsso disgusting. How are you supposed to live on fresh air.I suffer with Multiple Arthropathy, chronic back pain, hypertension and depression.I can hardly walk less than 20 meters and have to sit down as im in so much pain and need to rest at intervals. I am on anti Depression tablet, two lots of Blood Pressure tablets Gastric tablets and also Co codamol 30 as I cannot take inflammatory drugs as I am taking the depression ones.I am in pain 24/7 every day from going to bed to waking up in a morning I suffer with pain all night in all my joints struggling to get to sleep as I am uncomfortable with the pain. I did explain this all to the so called professional. On the 10of June I had a letter from DWP saying they had looked at my claim and awarded me with Severe disability giving me a top up. Then on 13 June I received another letter telling me that the assessment had not passed. I wrote for a reconsideration mandate and filled it in with a letter explaining I didn’t agree and it was all written wrong probability wrote the oppersite to what I had told her as a lot of this kind of crooked assessments have been appearing from different people that have been treat the same not getting the assessment passed as we are genuine people that are suffering. This is not a fair systeme for the ill and disabled. we are not physical for any sort of work. I was forced into going on a training course at Intrain I went every day for 2/half years I was in agony all the time my back was killing me my neck, my feet. shoulders, finger were painful and stiffs typing on a key board for hrs on end my knees and ending up with Migrain every day and drained I had to go to bed when I got home to rest I was in agony with pain.
Keep fighting them! Don’t give up! Have you got legal representation Susan? If not check this site out: https://www.lawcentres.org.uk/
Getting legal representation seems to makes a big difference with these scumbags.
Go to right side of page & type in your post code. It will show you your local law centre.
It’s hard to get in contact with these centres. But keep trying. Easier said than done when you haven’t got the money to make loads of calls & you have walking difficulties. But it is important you get representation.
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I was surprised by my HCA today. I had been dreading it and had metaphorically armed myself with all the information and advice I could beforehand. The staff at the HDAS in [south Somerset town] were polite, empathetic and had already called me the day previously to double check I could make it. They confirmed my request to have audio recording of the assessment.
It was a nurse who was assessing me – they did delay me for 10 minutes to double check if it should be a Doctor or Nurse led WCA. As it happened she said about 8 minutes into my assessment she didn’t even need to do the full assessment as it was obvious I qualified for ESA (SG). She remarked that she thought that would be the outcome from reading my ESA50 supplied July 2014 and the medical reports etc I had enclosed with it. It seemed to me that she had already read my paperwork thoroughly.
She asked her manager for permission to halt the interview and send the report recommending immediate support group status. She advised me that the reason I’d been called in for a face to face WCA was because it has been a long time since my last [awful! 1997 ATOS – successfully appealed] SDA medical. She did say my future reviews would probably take place on paper every 3 years. I found her a genuinely ‘nice’ person who apologised for spending so much time looking away to type the answers into her program.
I do not have a terminal illness and can (just about) walk but using 1 or 2 sticks. I also made sure I had a fair amount of evidence and details of a long medical history.
As far as my experience of previous DWP medicals informs me, it could not have gone better apart from the time lapse between being informed of migration from SDA to ESA. This took over one year from filling in the ESA50 to WCA assessment but my payments of SDA were regular with no problems. I feel very relieved and lucky!
I was pleasantly surprisedby my HCA today. I had been dreading it. The staff at the HDAS in [south Somerset town] were polite, empathetic and had already called me the day previously to double check I could make it. They confirmed my request to have audio recording of the assessment.
It was a nurse who was assessing me – they did delay me for 10 minutes to double check if it should be a Doctor or Nurse led WCA. As it happened she said about 8 minutes into my assessment she didn’t even need to do the full assessment as it was obvious I qualified for ESA (SG). She remarked that she thought that would be the outcome from reading my ESA50 supplied July 2014 and the medical reports etc I had enclosed with it. It seemed to me that she had already read my paperwork thoroughly.
She asked her manager for permission to halt the interview and send the report recommending immediate support group status. She advised me that the reason I’d been called in for a face to face WCA was because it has been a long time since my last [awful! 1997 ATOS – successfully appealed] SDA medical. She did say my future reviews would probably take place on paper every 3 years. I found her a genuinely ‘nice’ person who apologised for spending so much time looking away to type the answers into her program.
I do not have a terminal illness and can (just about) walk but using 1 or 2 sticks. I also made sure I had a fair amount of evidence and details of a long medical history.
As far as my experience of previous DWP medicals informs me, it could not have gone better apart from the time lapse between being informed of migration from SDA to ESA. This took over one year from filling in the ESA50 to WCA assessment but my payments of SDA were regular with no problems. I feel very relieved and lucky!
My disability/condition is spinal back injuries, chronic back/knee pain & leg injuries going on for 10+ years.
I’ve been waiting since June/2013 for my 1st ESA WCA. I was on £72.40 for 2 years! Unbelievable but the truth. The same month & year that my DLA was stolen from me by Atos/DWP.
I should’ve had a WCA after 13 weeks of claim; that turned into 2 years (104 weeks!). If my advisor didn’t contact DWP/Maximus (May/2015) then I would still be on the same ESA amount & waiting for WCA.
My legal representative also helped me to win my DLA tribunal case in May/2015 after it got rejected by a previous corruptible HMCTS panel in June/2013.
The DWP said to my advisor that I had to notify them to arrange WCA? Since when was that the case? What a joke.
Anyway I received a quick response letter in June/2015 for a home visit for June/2015. I proceeded to call the main Maximus office to request an audio recording at home on the same day of receiving the letter. The call centre said they could do it, but if not they would request to move the date to another day (meaning Croydon centre visit). I stipulated that I would record the meeting at home (it is within my legal right to do so). Also I would give an audio copy to Maximus for their perusal. Maximus said that the recording had to be simultaneously. Talking to a brick corporate money grabbing wall.
The Maximus Dr visited me at home June/2015. They were very polite & nice to me like the previous Atos HCP was who decided to falsify the report in June/2013.
The Maximus Dr didn’t have a recorder as I requested. But the WCA still went ahead with me signing the usual consent form of death at the start. The WCA was very brief & they went. I was shocked to find out that I had been put in the support group for 2 years (how ironic) & I would be getting 2 years backdated money paid to me. That’s another story to tell on how long that took (ages & loads of lying by the DWP again on payments).
If it wasn’t for my family & advisors; I would’ve been in major financial trouble, homeless or starving. Not everyone is as lucky as me. I am disgusted with this whole process. I have worked hard all my life, like many others & now I am very sick this is the way the Tory Government wants to treat me.
Even If I had never worked we must look after our sick & vulnerable! NO WAY am I taking this draconian nastiness. These WCA’s should end now! I can see why this drives good honest people to suicide. It’s evil, never ending & it brings you down to depression, but keep fighting them, as there is always hope. There is always light at the end of the tunnel and you can beat them. Keep exposing their hatefulness & lies. Take care X.
Sort it ‘govern’ment ?
My assessment was due on June 10, a home visit had been arranged after a long battle with the DWP over whether I was entitled to one, then in the end they gave way but the home visit was mysteriously cancelled after I questioned them over HCP’s special training they claimed they have for my type of assessment, I demanded the assessment be recorded and after they failed to disclose the details of the special training, I informed them I would question the HCP at assessment regarding their special training.
I first received an email from the centre for health and disability assessment informing me they do not wish to see me and that my file had been sent back to the DWP with a medical advise report, the DWP sent me mail shortly after saying I’ve been put in the support group and to inform them if my circumstances change. I find this very odd as they fought tooth and nail to get me assessed but then dropped it like a ton of bricks.
I have requested a copy of the medical advise report and for them to identify the special training the HCP had apparently received, I am still waiting for this information.
I had my ESA assessment on June 8th 2015, It seemed at the time by the so called arthritic nurse seemed to make it not so nerve racking as before and telling at the time that they are the professionals. I at the time said we will wait and see on the out come of this assessment. it looked at the time like she was typing what i was saying, but alas she hadn’t like the other times each year i have been made the appointment for an assessment every year as it never got passed. that I have had to make a new claim on ESA to get my money as it has been stopped in the last four years. Up to 9 or so weeks with out any money itsso disgusting. How are you supposed to live on fresh air.I suffer with Multiple Arthropathy, chronic back pain, hypertension and depression.I can hardly walk less than 20 meters and have to sit down as im in so much pain and need to rest at intervals. I am on anti Depression tablet, two lots of Blood Pressure tablets Gastric tablets and also Co codamol 30 as I cannot take inflammatory drugs as I am taking the depression ones.I am in pain 24/7 every day from going to bed to waking up in a morning I suffer with pain all night in all my joints struggling to get to sleep as I am uncomfortable with the pain. I did explain this all to the so called professional. On the 10of June I had a letter from DWP saying they had looked at my claim and awarded me with Severe disability giving me a top up. Then on 13 June I received another letter telling me that the assessment had not passed. I wrote for a reconsideration mandate and filled it in with a letter explaining I didn’t agree and it was all written wrong probability wrote the oppersite to what I had told her as a lot of this kind of crooked assessments have been appearing from different people that have been treat the same not getting the assessment passed as we are genuine people that are suffering. This is not a fair systeme for the ill and disabled. we are not physical for any sort of work. I was forced into going on a training course at Intrain I went every day for 2/half years I was in agony all the time my back was killing me my neck, my feet. shoulders, finger were painful and stiffs typing on a key board for hrs on end my knees and ending up with Migrain every day and drained I had to go to bed when I got home to rest I was in agony with pain.
Keep fighting them! Don’t give up! Have you got legal representation Susan? If not check this site out: https://www.lawcentres.org.uk/
Getting legal representation seems to makes a big difference with these scumbags.
Go to right side of page & type in your post code. It will show you your local law centre.
It’s hard to get in contact with these centres. But keep trying. Easier said than done when you haven’t got the money to make loads of calls & you have walking difficulties. But it is important you get representation.