Atos Canceled assesment

I had a medical assessment with atos this week and an an hour before they rang to say they were going to have to cancel it and send me a new appointment. The thing is i had already rearranged it once for a day suitable for my partner to take me as she has to take time off work. I assume they are going to send me another automatic appointment. does anybody know if i will be able to rearrange it if its not a suitable date? I know you can only rearrange it once but i did this and atos canceled that appointment.

SoulMan wrote: I had a medical assessment with atos this week and an an hour before they rang to say they were going to have to cancel it and send me a new appointment. The thing is i had already rearranged it once for a day suitable for my partner to take me as she has to take time off work. I assume they are going to send me another automatic appointment. does anybody know if i will be able to rearrange it if its not a suitable date? I know you can only rearrange it once but i did this and atos canceled that appointment.

Hi SM,

You are correct in that ATOS will only normally allow one rearrangement.

In this scenario, it is they who have cancelled it.

As in your previous topic, :

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?view=top...5&limitstart=0#96544

I would e-mail them ASAP, put it all in writing, and gain written confirmation from them regarding any agreement reached.


bro58

Update to this need some more advice

I had the following email from ATOS

Thank you for your email. I am sorry to read that your appointment was cancelled at short notice.


I have now spoken to the Resource team on your behalf and they have noted your referral to state that you will be contacted to re-arrange your appointment rather than you getting an automatic appointment in the post. This means that you will be able to discuss an appropriate time and date with them when they call you.

After the above email i thought great thank you very much. Fast forward a couple of weeks, no phone calls but another appointment letter arrives which is not on a convenient day and time. My partner tried to see if she could get the day off work to no avail so another email was sent to atos from my self. explaining that i was told i would be receiving a phone call to arrange an appointment rather than another automatic letter and could you please confirm who i need to contact or who will phone me to arrange it because this automatic letter is not on a suitable day or time and i have been been able to use the 1 occasion to re arrange it because last time i tried it was canceled by yourselves etc.

Fast forward 36 hours no response to my email so i decided to phone up the number on the appointment letter.

The lady i spoke to was extremely rude and most unhelpful i was told i would be unable re book my appointment because i had already re-arranged it one time before. I then explained that the appointment that i did re-arranged before was actually canceled by yourselves on the same day the appointment was supposed to take place and therefore i did not get to use my one time chance to arrange it for a day suitable for myself. I was then told that they could still not re arrange it because another appointment letter had been sent out automatically . I then explained that i had emailed ATOS and still have copies of these emails explaining that i would not be receiving a automatic appointment in the post i would be receiving a phone call instead but i did not receive any phone calls but did receive another automatic appointment in the post. I was then asked well can you only come any specific days to which i replied with yes a Wednesday would be most convenient. at which point she offered me Wednesday the 19th June ( 5 days time) i explained that this was too short notice because it might not be enough time for my partner to book the day off to take me.. I then asked ff i could have at least 7 days notice which i believe i am entitled to and i was told that she was not willing to give me a later date, I asked if she were able to give me a later date or she was just not willing to and she told me that she was not willing to give me a later date. I asked if i were legally allowed 7 days notice and i was simply told that, I can either take the 19th june or she will put a note on the system to say that i was unable to attend on my original date and also that i refused to accept the 19th of june. Therefore I have been forced accept an appointment with less than 5 days notice or have a note put on the system to say that i refused to accept it.

I have not emailed atos again explaining this phone call and still no response from them.

oops sorry the last line should say "i have now emailed atos" not " i have not emailed atos"

SoulMan wrote: Update to this need some more advice

I had the following email from ATOS

Thank you for your email. I am sorry to read that your appointment was cancelled at short notice.


I have now spoken to the Resource team on your behalf and they have noted your referral to state that you will be contacted to re-arrange your appointment rather than you getting an automatic appointment in the post. This means that you will be able to discuss an appropriate time and date with them when they call you.

After the above email i thought great thank you very much. Fast forward a couple of weeks, no phone calls but another appointment letter arrives which is not on a convenient day and time. My partner tried to see if she could get the day off work to no avail so another email was sent to atos from my self. explaining that i was told i would be receiving a phone call to arrange an appointment rather than another automatic letter and could you please confirm who i need to contact or who will phone me to arrange it because this automatic letter is not on a suitable day or time and i have been been able to use the 1 occasion to re arrange it because last time i tried it was canceled by yourselves etc.

Fast forward 36 hours no response to my email so i decided to phone up the number on the appointment letter.

The lady i spoke to was extremely rude and most unhelpful i was told i would be unable re book my appointment because i had already re-arranged it one time before. I then explained that the appointment that i did re-arranged before was actually canceled by yourselves on the same day the appointment was supposed to take place and therefore i did not get to use my one time chance to arrange it for a day suitable for myself. I was then told that they could still not re arrange it because another appointment letter had been sent out automatically . I then explained that i had emailed ATOS and still have copies of these emails explaining that i would not be receiving a automatic appointment in the post i would be receiving a phone call instead but i did not receive any phone calls but did receive another automatic appointment in the post. I was then asked well can you only come any specific days to which i replied with yes a Wednesday would be most convenient. at which point she offered me Wednesday the 19th June ( 5 days time) i explained that this was too short notice because it might not be enough time for my partner to book the day off to take me.. I then asked ff i could have at least 7 days notice which i believe i am entitled to and i was told that she was not willing to give me a later date, I asked if she were able to give me a later date or she was just not willing to and she told me that she was not willing to give me a later date. I asked if i were legally allowed 7 days notice and i was simply told that, I can either take the 19th june or she will put a note on the system to say that i was unable to attend on my original date and also that i refused to accept the 19th of june. Therefore I have been forced accept an appointment with less than 5 days notice or have a note put on the system to say that i refused to accept it.

I have not emailed atos again explaining this phone call and still no response from them.

Hi SM,

You are supposed to be given at least 7 days notice, that is covered in legislation. Or the appointment can be made earlier with your agreement

See :

"42242 Claimants can be treated as not having LCW if :

1.they fail without good cause to attend or submit to a medical examination1

and

2. they

2.1 had at least seven days’ written notice of the examination

or

2.2 agreed to accept a shorter period of notice whether given in writing or otherwise2."

From :

Chapter 42 DM Guide

As seen above, you can be found fit for work if you fail to attend, and it can be very difficult to get your benefit reinstated.

You could e-mail ATOS : customer-relations@ atoshealthcare.com (close the gap on the address)

Laying out your complaint, and asking that your complaint is escalated to a Customer Relations Manager.

The threat of involving your M.P. may help.

Contacting your MP

The problem is that if you cannot obtain something in writing from ATOS, confirming that the assessment on the 19/06/13 has been cancelled and you do not have to attend, that you will have to attend, or face the prospect of your benefit being stopped.

bro58

Thank you bro, ATOS has just this minuet replied to my email!


I am so sorry I did not acknowledge receipt of your email yesterday. It was forwarded to our Resource Team and I have not yet had their response. I will make further enquiries now and let you know the outcome before I leave the office today

my sincere apologies for the further difficulties you have experienced.

Hopefully something can be sorted out but if not it looks like as you say i will have to attend or face loosing benefit. It will all come down to weather or not my partner can get the day off which is doubtful with such short notice, if that's the case then all i can do is present my case to the decision maker and hopefully he will understand or the person at ATOS who is contacting me via email will be able to sort something.

Thanks for quoting the guidelines though it lets me know exactly where i stand at least.