Hi everyone,
I have become a little bit of a researcher into the history of ATOS. I am a retired community nurse and have been very unwell for a few years now. I first became interested when I was asked to go for a healthcare assessment with ATOS. I researched them online and found that many claimants found that the ATOS medical practitioner either lied outright about them on the report or just produced a shambolic report. I heard stories of people with brain cancer being told they were fit for work and likely to get better within 6 months. I saw that many of these medical practitioners were from overseas and wondered why they did not have more British practitioners.
I finally went for the medical and actually passed, although I did ask for the Polish lady's name and GMC number. For some reason she gave me an incorrect number, although I'm not sure why. I also commented at the time to the receptionist that in my years in the NHS I had never heard anyone speak to someone like she spoke to my husband. She did apologise.
Time passed and with the approach of a DLA medical I began to research ATOS more. I found that they originated with a company related to the ENRON scandal in America (UNIM) and had been sued in America due to being a "disability denial factory". I wondered why the labour government which I had helped vote in had contracted this company which had as it main objective merely to cut the number of claimants. I then found that its parent company had wined and dined ministers at its conference.
Never mind, I thought, the new government knew there were big problems with ATOS and that the tribunals were being overwhelmed with appeals. I was sure that as the ATOS contract was due for renewal Autumn 2010 they would not renew it. Surely they would see that it would be morally wrong to engage a company who couldn't employ decent practitioners due to their bad reputation and their unwillingness to pay the going rate. Well I was wrong. Last Autumn the conservative renewed the ATOS contract.
By the time of my at home DLA assessment (two days before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis) the 'doctor' poked me all over as if I was an animal and spent 17 minutes exactly in my home. His report said that he had been here 48 minutes and that he had tested my eyesight (I think I might have noticed!). I painfully walked 1 and a half metres and from that he deduced that I could walk at 3 and half kilometres per hour (I wish!). He wrote on the form for the decision maker that my painkillers were for use only at night (untrue as I have to take them twice daily) and also that my antidepressants were only for occasional use. (I am on a very high dose as anything less does not work). The decision maker is not a medically qualified person and has to rely on ATOS for the report. They wrote to my GP and said that they no longer needed the report from him. As you can imagine the decision they came to was rather perverse and we have asked for a reconsideration.
We received this morning a letter saying that they would pass our complaint to the medical complaints team for ATOS. Of course there is not much chance of anything happening there as ATOS employ their own cronies to investigation their complaints.
I have written to my MP about this and received a reply along the lines that the government do not want to employ unnecessary organisations.
So anyone who is genuinely ill has to face the stress of dishonest medical assessments by ATOS whether for IB, ESA or DLA. In addition anyone who works for the NHS or education will usually have ATOS as the medical practitioner used to decide whether they qualify for ill health retirement. Needless to add, most applications are refused on the lack of evidence of 'permanence' and go to the second appeal and ombudsman. ATOS here merely act as loss adjusters for the insurance companies who provide the pensions.
I was unsurprised to recently learn that ATOS had team up with its sister company KPMG. Birds of a feather stick together!
