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incapacity benefit/dla
- dawny
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Ive been on incapacity for 12/13 years due to me having 3 spinal op's and a cage and rods fitted in my spine, im also on dla high rates .
Ive been called to have a medical in a few weeks , at the minute im having reoccurring problems with severe pain in my spine and loss of feeling /tingling in my hands , back ,legs, incontinence of urine and bleeding from my back passage.
Ive been to see my doc who is useless have had a mri and seen the specialist who is sending me to seethe pain management again to have a nerve root stimulator done , also waiting to see a neurosurgeon ..
I can't walk I shuffle along and get out of breath , I went and got some help you fill my esa form filled in and the girl to be honest made a right mess of it lots of crossing outs and answered quite a lot of questions varies.
Im getting stressed out as im confused most of the time and cant remember what I did yesterday never mind weeks ago.
iM HAVING TO GET MY husband to take me to the medical can he ask to see the answers what atos fill in on the form.
Can you give me any advice as I cant believe ive been called , been on this benefit for years , once ive been for this medical will I then be contacted from dla as well .
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- Gordon
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It may still be possible to arrange a home assessment if your GP or Consultant will write a letter explaining why this is necessary, although I have to warn you that it will still be at the discretion of ATOS.
If you do have to attend, then I am afraid your husband will not be able to see what the assessor is writing, they will be using a computer application to capture the information and there will be no printed copy produced until after you have left the assessment. You can request the report (ESA85) from the DWP a few days after the assessment.
It may not be too late to request the assessment is recorded, there is a template letter in the ESA Claim guides or a MS-Word version in the Members Only section
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/esa
The links in the following should give you some idea of what will happen on the day.
ESA Medical – What to expect
Gordon
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- dawny
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- Gordon
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dawny wrote: hi Gordan , thank you for your reply, what happens when I go if my questions have changed since the stupid girl filled my first form in. Im really struggling walking and taking morphine and other strong tablets at the minute. Will my husband be able to come in the room if I have to go to the place
Your husband can sit in the assessment with you and subject to the assessors approval, help you answer the questions they will ask you. He can also take notes on anything that occurs during the interview.
I think you asking about how you can tell them about your condition deteriorating since you completed the ESA50, this being the case, if you have more up to date medical evidence then you can take a copy of this with you to the assessment and ask the assessor to read it before they start.
If you do not have any new evidence, then write a letter explaining the changes and take this with you.
In both cases I would also send a copy of the documents to your local DWP office, marked for the attention of the Decision Maker.
If this was not what you were asking, then I am afraid you will need to re-post with a clarification of your question.
Gordon
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- dawny
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- Gordon
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dawny wrote: No that has answered my questions thank you , how long have I got to ask for a home visit my app is on the 16th july . By having them visit me at home does this make the assessment any better or doesn't it matter , im not able to sit in the car for very long even 15 mins and im in agony .
You should make the request as soon as possible, but you will need the written support of your GP or Consultant, so it will be dependant on how quickly you can arrange to speak to them.
A home assessment tends to be less formal, they will ask the same questions but the assessor will not be using a computer to guide them. You will still not be able to see the report they are producing and it usually takes extra time for it to be completed and returned to the DWP, so any request you make to see it will likely take extra time as well.
Gordon
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