BT Block Disabilty Rights Website

[D 8 RCS]

It has been reported that apparently BT have blocked access to Disability Rights Website BlackTriangle at the request of ATOS.
ATOS are the private company who hold "medical" assessments for claimants of ESA and DLA on behalf of the DWP. In some cases ATOS have found people "fit" to work, which has resulted in those people having their benefits stopped or changed because they are "fit" only for some of those people to have died days or weeks after this so called "medical" assessment.
To cap it all the CEO of ATOS Thierry Breton has been awarded a bonus of £1 Million bringing his income for last year to £1.9 Million !!!
Would this money and the cost of these "medicals" and the numerous Appeals and Tribunals be better spent helping those with severe illnesses and disabilities ? Instead of trying to "rob" them of a few pounds each week which help improve their quality of life.

Before anyone says about the "fakers" --- yes spend money weeding out those spongers but don't punish all the innocents as well.

 

[shaun127]

Before anyone says about the "fakers" --- yes spend money weeding out those spongers but don't punish all the innocents as well.

Well said Atos are scum in my opinion Mate

Paul Mickleburgh, one of the world’s longest surviving kidney dialysis patients is hooked up to a dialysis machine for five hours, three days a week. He’s also had cancer and pneumonia and suffers from spontaneous internal bleeding, brittle bones a twisted bowel and agonising joint pains as a result of his renal treatment. He’s had four failed kidney donations.

To top it all off, Paul has had 14 heart attacks in the last five years and believes his last attack was caused in part by the stress of trying to deal with the DWP. Sadly, patients with chronic kidney disease are actually more likely to die from associated heart disease than from kidney failure itself.

In spite of this Paul has been placed in the work related activity group meaning that he is someone who is expected to return to the workplace in the reasonably near future. Paul’s request for this dreadful decision to be looked at again came back with the same result – he should be moving towards a return to work.

We hope that Paul is now appealing . . . and that his heart will stand the stress.

More desperate still is the story of Karen Sherlock, a disability activist connected to the Spartacus campaign, whose kidneys were failing and who was waiting to be put on dialysis. In spite of her very serious condition, Karen was placed in the work-related activity group, meaning that her benefit would soon stop altogether because of the time limit on contribution-based ESA.

Karen spent many months fighting that decision. Two weeks ago she finally won her exhausting battle with the DWP and was placed in the support group.

This week she died of a heart attack.

 

[FingerPie]

having worked in such areas u can bet that while ATOS are at the front for the whipping it's not them making the decisions, NHS, Home Office bureaucratz are the same the world over

i don't see what someones bonus no matter how much it is has to do with it.

 

[shaun127]

having worked in such areas u can bet that while ATOS are at the front for the whipping it's not them making the decisions, NHS, Home Office bureaucratz are the same the world over

i don't see what someones bonus no matter how much it is has to do with it.

And both myself and my wife working in the area being volunteers helping ex squaddies, children and others I suppose it depends what his bonus was for? the more disabled people off disability benefits the more he got? then it has a lot to do with it

 

[FingerPie]

ATOS is a PRIVATE sector company, they have a contract with the DWP, his bonus i highly unlikely related to those criteria and specifically with that contract. ATOS have multiple contracts spread across different areas. His bonus will be based on performance etc, internal budgetary control etc.

I sympathize, but I've also been on the inside an know exactly how it works.

The PERCEPTION and ASSUMPTION isn't necessarily correct.

 

[speedy1234]

all said and done how can these diks and the dwp say that some 1 is fit for work after only a 20 min interview ?

 

[janobi]

Whilst I agree that there are people who are being taken off benefits that deserve them, there are millions who are lazy and incompetent and have worked the system for too long. IMHO all people should be reassessed and not just some. Too many people in the UK are quick to point the finger, and blame others. Whether it be immigrants taking jobs, or ATOS signing people off, perhaps if the UK was a little more honest, and people actually did something for themselves, then we wouldn't be in the dire situation that we as a country are.

Im sure all of us know at least one person who is claiming fraudulently, and working the system to their advantage. This is our money they are claiming illegally, perhaps if we stood up a little more for the moral value we all speak of then the people who fully deserve the state help wouldn't be in this kind of a situation.

 

[miggy]

How much money are GP's getting paid on this deal as well. I am sick of going to the Doctors only to have valuable medication taken off patients just to save money,and a few months down the line GP,s have to put you back on them. Paracetamol is there answer all the time?. They are crap they do not work. I am speaking up for the innocent patients/victims now not the sponging barstewards that are bleeding the country dry with nothing wrong with them.

 

[D 8 RCS]

ATOS is a PRIVATE sector company, they have a contract with the DWP, his bonus i highly unlikely related to those criteria and specifically with that contract. ATOS have multiple contracts spread across different areas. His bonus will be based on performance etc, internal budgetary control etc.

I sympathize, but I've also been on the inside an know exactly how it works.

The PERCEPTION and ASSUMPTION isn't necessarily correct.

But it is the point, it is a Private Sector Company doing Government work. Yes I know they are a Global Company but they are at the moment doing a £100 Million contract for DWP and will be aiming to be part of the £1 Billion contract for doing assessment medicals for the new PIP benefit payment system along with other companies like Serco and G4S and their goal will be to reduce the number of those people who are claiming benefits.
Yes, Thierry Breton achieved those "goals" for DWP but at a human cost. It has been documented that at least 32 people a week are dying who have been found "fit for work" by ATOS. There are so many Appeals going to Tribunal (it is argued that up to 70% of the Appeals are Successful) that there is a 12 month backlog.
Does that sound like the achievements deserving of a £1 Million Bonus ? OK, as you state that is only part of what ATOS does but I would suggest that the mode of operation used in that contract will also be the same in whatever other contracts they fulfil.
The fact that companies like ATOS, Serco and G4S are the companies likely to get the new £1 Billion PIP contract, should make everybody realise that they are not interested in how well the people called in for the "medicals" are, only in reducing the number of claimants.
If DWP were really interested in catching the scroungers then it would be better to use resources watching and tracking those who are reported as swinging the lead. In fact they don't even have to just target those reported, they just have to look at some of those walking into the JobCentres and they would be able to identify plenty of targets to investigate every day.
I would also like to point out about these "assessments" that the ATOS "Professional" doing the "medical" does not have to be a Doctor and in many cases isn't. Their opinion is then passed on to a Decision Maker at DWP who has no medical knowledge, to make the final decision. In the majority of cases the opinion of the claimants GP is not even considered ! And this is the Doctor who is seeing the patient on a regular basis and has all of their medical records.
This basically says that the DWP do not trust the opinion of a GP but do trust the opinion of someone paid to reduce the number of claimants but may not have any relevant medical knowledge.
Says it all really !!!

 

[speedy1234]

D8 you have hit the nail on the head there my m8. i went for my medical the woman i seen was NOT a doctor in any shape or form. also she could only type with 1 finger and was hitting the key bord so hard with every letter she pressed.. she even had to go and ask some 1 to show her how to go on to the nxt set of Q's..iam deemed fit for work now.yes i have appealed.good job realy as i was rushed in to hospital on friday morning with the same thing that i was told i was fit for work with.there getting bonus for the money there saving the gov end off

 

[D 8 RCS]

Speedy, I would never have believed all this before. But I have been unfortunate enough to of suffered a knee problem that has not recovered despite an op and have also since been suffering from depression, partly caused by the knee problem, partly caused by the fact I could not return to work, partly because of the strain of dealing with ATOS and the DWP and partly other problems involved.
Having worked all my life until this happened, I was appalled at the way I have been treated and soon discovered that I was only one of a large number of genuine cases that has been treated this way. So, I have felt that I should let some others know what is going on. Your case strengthens my feelings and confirms the experience that I have also had to endure, while having our benefits reduced awaiting the Tribunal making things even more difficult.

 

[speedy1234]

there is a lot of ppl out there milking the system and yer thats bang out of order. but there the ones who are passing the medical.
its the honest 1ns that are feeling this. the new system is all wrong why cant the gov see this ?.as some 1 posted in the thread the money there spending on Atos would be better of used on employing investigater's to root out the cheats.or is that 2 hard for the dwp to work out.. it would all end up a win win situation..= new jobs being created or saving jobs and also catching benefit fraud ? u get my meaning

 

[miggy]

D 8 RCS did you get my pm? what do you think? pm me back with your answer mate.

 

[D 8 RCS]

Got it Miggy,
Thanks, I have sent you a reply. If there is any thing else you want to know or ask just PM again.

 

[Firemouth]

having worked in such areas u can bet that while ATOS are at the front for the whipping it's not them making the decisions, NHS, Home Office bureaucratz are the same the world over

i don't see what someones bonus no matter how much it is has to do with it.

utter garbage.
these animals are paid to stop disability benefit, regardless of the claimants needs. and they get over paid for doing it.
the bonus does matter. every penny this scum earns is taken out of the benefits fund.
and the MORONIC notion that a none medical or a medical person with 20 minutes to asses the case, is in anyway qualified to second guess a GP or specialist. just goes to underline how pathetic the system is.

whilst its true there is a percentage of claimants who "work" the system. ATOS is one of the main scammers.

 

[Firemouth]

its also worth pointing out that appeals against ATOS finding are running a 40% success rate. costing the TAX payer another £50 million pounds a year. that's on top of the £100 million ATOS gets paid.
so apart from anything else, they are totally incompetent.

thieving cheating scum. to put it mildly.

here's a thing. how about ATOS being made to pay the total cost of any successful appeals. well this is all about efficiency, isn't it?