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PIP consultation before GP sends Factual Report

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8 years 4 months ago #177912 by tyro
I helped my friend to fill in his PIP form.He has mental health
issues which leave him debilitated,make it difficult to interact
with people leave him feeling constantly suicidal

Just before Christmas he got a letter {dated 22/12/2016}from
Atos Healthcare saying supporting evidence had been sought
from 'one or more of the people you have identified as being
involved in your care''.Last week he got an identical letter
{dated 28/12/2016}

His doctor has been on leave,but was contacted yesterday
{02/01/2017}.He said he would complete a form Atos sent to him
and emphasize that he recommended that the claim
should be done on paper as a face to consultation would
cause the patient distress,adding that he had suicidal thoughts
triggered by such interactions.He said the form would
be completed early next week for the patient to view,before
he sent it off

Today my friend got another letter from Atos {dated 04/01/2017}
with a consultation date {18/01/2017

We don't think that it is reasonable for Atos to book this consultation
in advance of receiving the Factual report from his GP and
considering a paper based review

Can you please advise on what we can do regarding this?


Many thanks

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8 years 4 months ago #177919 by Gordon
Tyro

Do you have a timescale for the GP to produce their letter?

Until the letter is produced there is little that you can do, however, a face to face assessment is only required when there is insufficient information for a recommendation to be made without one, so you should try and find out what information ATOS require that is missing.

One point, at this time do not make any suggestion to ATOS that you want to cancel the current appointment, this may be necessary but doing so now will simply result in new one being issued.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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8 years 4 months ago #177924 by tyro
The GP said the letter would be completed on Monday 09/01/2017,
the patient should call into the surgery to OK what has been written,
then it will be sent

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8 years 4 months ago #177930 by Gordon

tyro wrote: The GP said the letter would be completed on Monday 09/01/2017,
the patient should call into the surgery to OK what has been written,
then it will be sent


When you have the letter and you are happy with it then it might help to contact your friend's MP.

Contacting your MP

They can sometimes overcome a reticence to do a paper assessment.

Gordon

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8 years 4 months ago #177932 by tyro
Should we contact Atos and explain that the form will be sent
next week or ask the GP to do so?

In addition should we ask the GP to refer to the fact that the
appointment has been made in advance when he submits the
form?

And when the form has been sent by the GP,should we contact
Atos to confirm that they have the information and ask for the
appointment to be cancelled in view of them having to consider
the GP information {as this wasn't done before booking it}

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8 years 4 months ago #177935 by Gordon
Tyro

The form/letter needs to be sent directly to ATOS from your GP, if they need contact information then contact ATOS.

I would not contact ATOS prior to the GP's letter being sent and I would not cancel the appointment until the day before if the decision not to provide a paper assessment, as I said in a previous post, doing so will simply result in a new appointment being made and you only have one option to cancel, after that the claimant must attend unless ATOS change the appointment themselves.

Once ATOS have the letter you can chase them, but be aware that a compromise option may be a home assessment.

Gordon

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