Worried sick about ATOS aseesment

[newpostie]

i have a atos assesment coming up face to face and i am worried sick there going to try and palm me back into work. I have arthiritis in my foot and i am in severe pain i have seen podiatry etc and had xrays to comfirm this. Im in constant pain. When the pain 1st came it wasn't as bad as it is now its hurting me when i rest. Wakes me in the night and when i am on my feet for any short time. So im in constant pain. Ive tried every sort of rehab and its not improving in the slightest. Now i am worried sick that when i go for my asessment they will try throwing me back on light duties. As im one absent away from stage 2 so when i go back i will be on the stage 2. So if i go back to work and need any further time off i will be on a stage 3! So have i got reasons to worry? Any adive would be great!

[banddy]

i have a atos assesment coming up face to face and i am worried sick there going to try and palm me back into work. I have arthiritis in my foot and i am in severe pain i have seen podiatry etc and had xrays to comfirm this. Im in constant pain. When the pain 1st came it wasn't as bad as it is now its hurting me when i rest. Wakes me in the night and when i am on my feet for any short time. So im in constant pain. Ive tried every sort of rehab and its not improving in the slightest. Now i am worried sick that when i go for my asessment they will try throwing me back on light duties. As im one absent away from stage 2 so when i go back i will be on the stage 2. So if i go back to work and need any further time off i will be on a stage 3! So have i got reasons to worry? Any adive would be great!

how long you been off?

RM are going through a ruthless phase.
if you have been off for more than 9 months, and you don't want to/can't go back to work in the forseeable future, you could be looking at being Ill Health retired!?
[with lump sum or immediate pension]

can you do [alternative] work in one of the offices (temporarily) to see how your arthritis is long term?

it's not easy, good luck, RM see it as - he who pays the organ grinder calls the tunes!

[dados]

Make sure that your face to face is an ATOS doctor,not one of these plastic nurses,make sure you have all /or can get all sick notes,name & address of doctor etc. they will ask you to allow them to access your medical files,make sure you tell your GP that you only want RELEVANT TO YOUR INJURY file sent.They will try to get you on light duties,but this should be with your input as well i.e hrs to work,can /can't be done,rest periods,after all,it ain't in RM's interest to pay you on the sick,but after reading your post,they may well say that you cannot carry out your duties & medically downgrade you to allow sufficient grounds for dismissal.Or if they are in a good mood you may get a permanent cushy number in the office,depending on your D.O,don't be too worried about stage 1/2 etc.most ppl who have been on the sick have had them (me currently)it goes with the job if you are going to have on going treatment for your injury as long as you tell them(with a written note,just to be sure)that this is going to happen in the future they will not treat it as a seperate absenteeism (as is the case with me right now )

Hopefully you will get an ATOS robot that is half decent (& ensure that you ask for a copy of his/her report to RM)

[newpostie]

thanks for your adivice! Well it all started at the end of december. I went to the doctors and they told me it was plantar fasilitis i was off for 3 weeks and returned on light duties after a telephone appointment from ATOS, over a months period! So i went back to work on light duties and was told id be doing them till mid march. I thought it would have been getting better but it wasn't. So i imformed the DOM and told its getting worst which was the case. He referred me to ATOS for the second time which they tell me to carry on with half a duty and referred me to physio still thinking it was plantar fasilitis, who imforms me straight away that it wasn't the case and i could have a stress fracture on a metertasel. So then i went back to a doctor who told me to go for an x-ray and after the results showed i had severe wear and tear on the joints off my feet. And referred me to podiatry. All this while still carrying out half a duty at work. But the pain started getting unbarable so i had to go back on the sick with it because i could not carry out my duty! so the DOM referred me for my 3rd ATOS telephone appointment! Who asks if im able to go on light duties but ive tried all types and its not helped so imformed them. To there response i will be going for a 1-1 appointment at my mail centre. So here i am now one absense away from a stage 2 warning with the threat off them making me go back to work.

Also could they just dismiss you without IRH being offered?

[stokes11eg]

If your absenses are down to sickness alone they cannot just dismiss you. with your constant referals to ATOS it looks as though they are looking to IHR you. Good Luck.
I

[Judgee]

Firtst off..... relaxxxxxxxx! ATOS are not quite the ogres people seem to think. Be honest with them and tell them how you feel physically and emotionally. They know that stress can be as debilitating as any physical injury and they won't want to push you too hard in case they add that to your problems.

As far as sickness and stage warnings try not to worry about them too as really they are not worth the paper they are written on. You cannot be dismissed due to medical conditions that in all likelyhood was caused by the job!

Hopefully ATOS will be able to come up with some more helpful solutions to getting you back to work. Medical evidence proves that your injury is genuine so they can't push you into anything that will make it worse.

Should it be a long term problem with no fixes or alternatives to returning to work they will offer retirement on medical grounds but again you do not have to take this.

Like I said, please be calm, stick to your guns and don't be bullied into anything the law is on your side

[gj1023]

Agree with Judge ,on this. I did not have a problem with Atos, in respect of my IHR.

Atos are tasked to get people back to work by RM, as soon as possible. Either back on your normal duty, or with adjustments.
IE change of job, hours light duties , etc.
.
Atos are not a problem, if you answer honest and openly to them and have the medical evidence to back this up , then they will have play nice.
.
If you have a condition, whereby they can`t recommend adjustments either in work or hours, or moving to another part of RM.
Then there only option is to recommend IHR. If you condition is likely to get better in a period between 9 months and 10 , then it is IHR with lump sum . If you condition is not likely to get better in 10 years or more , then it is IHR with immediate pension.

[newpostie]

well the problem is that i am only 22. Also i pulled out of the pension scheme when i 1st started 3 n half years go so it would just be the lump sum what kind of figues would i be looking at? Cheers!

[Sick Postie]

Make sure you have someone with you who will speak up for you if you get distressed. They will try and get you to do at least some work, the way they see it is even if you can do 1 hour per day at least they are getting some work from you. RM don't care at all about their employees and ATOS are under pressure to get people off the sick and back into work.

Before you attend the meeting try to plan what you would say if they try to pressure you into returning to work, maybe even get your GP's opinion before you go, preferably in writting!

As you are only 22 you have a lot of your life still ahead of you and if you are already suffering like this maybe a change of job to something that you are not on your feet all the time is the answer. I know it's hard at the minute to find any job but your long term health has to be considered.

[roadrunnerroadrunner]

If RM are willing to pay you IHR then take it.
I was recently given IHR with a lump sum and have now found another job and after being a postman for 24 years i thought that i would be there until i retired.Since i left over 5 weeks ago i havent even had as much as a letter from RM saying thank you for 24 years service,which proves that they dont give a f**k about anyone.
Im so lucky to be out of it,having major heart surgery wasnt great!!!! but its all turned out alright in the end.
I just feel sorry for the postmen doing their jobs properly who are now suffering for the idiots who have cut the job up.

[gj1023]

Since i left over 5 weeks ago i havent even had as much as a letter from RM saying thank you for 24 years service,which proves that they dont give a f**k about anyone.

Well I must be lucky then , cos since being IHR on the 28th May after 35 years , I have had a envelope from RM .
Only containing my last 3 sick note , mind you , lol.

"I think atos overule the sick note" . They might think they can, but they can only recommend. That is there job to assess and make recommendations to help you get back to work.
.

At only 22 , I can only try to understand how upsetting this must be for you , young man. Very young to told you may have a condition that will affect you life.

[General Mannerheim]

The words Atos and Royal Mail like to use if you question wether your GP can be overruled are `that he is not an `expert`in what your work entails` and that Atossers are `experts in workplace health management` .
They like to use these terms especially if they get a naughty postie who won't play ball with them(that and a nice letter from the DOM threating you with stopping your pay)didn't work with me as I was already not on any ....shame.

[andy2007]

I think I read somewhere, im 99% sure, that atos overule the sicknote by the doc - thats what got me so angry coz they arent even doctors at atos !
It depends on who you see. They don't normally let you see a Doctor, because it costs more to employ them. If you don't see a proper Doctor, then they use a "virtual Doctor" system called Lima on their Computers to diagnose you, and decide what you can and can't do. They often don't even check, or pay attention to your Medical Records.

If on the other hand, you see a proper Doctor. They're much better. Because if they make a mistake, they can potentially be "struck off", and more importantly, they actually know what they're talking about. I've been referred to ATOS Doctors twice, since they got the contract. And both times, they were excellent. Not only did they assess me properly, but in one case. He was able to recommend an alternative treatment, for me to ask my own Doctor to arrange. It worked wonders for me!

Sadly, there have been other occasions. When I haven't been able to get an appointment with an ATOS Doctor, and I've had some terrible experiences. In one case, they made my injury much worse. Which meant I had to go back on the sick, for nearly 2 months to recover!

In other words: Make sure you insist on seeing a proper Doctor, when you get an ATOS appointment. And certainly avoid those ludicrous "telephone assessments".

I had an ingrowing toenail, swelled up like a potato and went all manky, so I had to wear flip flops with no socks for my appt, and the woman went mad at me for not having it plastered up ! I told her that its only `NOT` painfull when its dry , and by putting plasters/bandages on, it sweats and gets all soggy, and hurts like a fecker. But what about the infection she says???? Its not infected, its an ingorwing toenail, the toenail is growing inwards and thats causing the pain, it needs cutting out, not a plaster sticking on it !

I had a slipped disc a few years ago, had the physio etc, and the bloke recommended more physio, excercises every 20 mins where I had to lie on my back blah blah , and whatever I did, no heavy lifting or sitting sorting for hours on end, as that posture of sitting will ruin me .... Said he`d advise I did 2hrs per day and increase that by 1hr every 2 weeks , so it would take 12 weeks to get back to full hours, then a further 4 weeks before I got on my round. So told my dom, he read the letter the physio advised and sent me back to atos. I still had an ongoing sick note but was willing to go back on such short hours.... Went to atos on the friday, the woman agreed with the physio and said my hours were like he`d said and I was to see here again in 6 weeks. So rang my doc, got signed back on, coz of the short hours , jobs a good un. Monday, goes into work , dom says, your 2 hrs late, your sorting letters for 8hrs ! So I said what the atos woman had said, and he showed me her email - it said something like "he`ll only be sat at home so may aswell sit at work and sort, start him on 8hrs indoor sorting", and I can do a full walk 2 weeks!