Is it right to have 2 medicals on ESA

[teena1701]

Hello i was wondering if anyone can answer this for me please,

 

On January the 4th this year i put a claim in for ESA,i was sent a medical appointment for January 19th which i attended,by mid Feb i had not heard anything so i phoned to ask what was happening,i was told everything was running smoothly so dont worry,My 13 weeks was up the 4th of April,i never heard anything off ESA till the start of May telling me i had another medical to attend on May 11th,which again i attended......But since then ive heard nothing im still on £71 a week so is it normal to have 2 medicals so close together and do i phone them to find out whats going on or just wait and see...ESA is one of the benefits that has totally baffled me...Hopefully someone can answer this.

[debt4get]

nope it has everyone baffled...there is no rhyme and reason where esa is concerned....it may be worth ringing them assume they wont now be there till wednesday....people have been refused appealed, then a week later another medical.....the only concensus of opinion seems to be..the govt makes it as difficult as possible....good luck

[teena1701]

Hi thankyou for your answer will keep you informed as to what they say..

[antone]

Yes, definitely call - this is pretty strange. Getting a second medical before you hear the result of the first one is not usual.

[teena1701]

Hi,rang ESA today,and was told the first medical in Jan was disposed of and it should not of took place,and the medical in may is still waiting to be dealt with by a decision maker and that they will call me back by either 5 today or by 3pm tomorrow.

I mentioned to them that i have been on ESA now for nearly 22 weeks and she said that was not a problem it only counts if you have been on it for 6 months and not heard anything..

So basically i wasted my time travelling to an appointment about 10 miles away by public transport,had a 50 mins interview all for nothing in January...Do they do it just for fun because for some reason they always send me apps for 3.45pm,if i dont get the 5.10 train back then i have to wait ages for another one and dont arrive home till 8.30pm...All this is a joke,if you try and rearrange your app time they cancel it and say you refused to go...Lets see how long it takes for them to phone back..

[teena1701]

O.K thats a new record for them,i just received a call back off them saying that the decision maker is running weeks behind,today she has been working on cases from 20th April and she works in date order,i have asked the nice gentleman if he can pull my file and get them to call me back tomorrow because all this waiting and stressing is starting to take its toll.

Now to wait and see if they phone tomorrow.

[teena1701]

Hi,got my decision letter through this morning,and i failed my medical i got 0 points,after reading what they put most of it isnt the truth so i am going to appeal,i suffer with arthritis mainly in base of spine and neck,i am in constant pain 24hrs aday,according to the report i was able to sit 15 minutes and then able to stand for 10 mins,well thats 25 mins in my calculation so what was i doing for the rest of the 35 mins while in my interview...i spent most of my time going from sitting to standing to sitting,she forgot to note that,also she forgot to note when it was time to leave i almost fell over when getting up because of searching for my balance..........Oh and that i completed the ESA50 myself,yeh with one or two word answers....She also noted i had no muscle wasting in the calves or no bruises...whats that got to do with arthritis? ....In her words i take moderate pain relieve and has no specialist involvement, I take the only things my doc can give me which dont make me sick,3 lots of diff tabs aday and the phsyio wrote me off cos there is nothing else he can do for me....The best one is i arrived by public transport alone.....Half right i arrived by public transport and with my eldest son who had a app just down the road from where my interview was,i even told her this,he even walked into the place with me so he knew i was ok before he went...Next time i will get him to do a sing and dance in the office so at least they know someone escorted me to my app....Im at a total loss with it all so i better appeal....Let the battle commence

[debt4get]

usual rubbish where the report is based on semi truths and inuendo's typical rATOS......they will never learn....get your gl24 and appeal dont forget you also need to supply so called 'fit notes'.....what a joke

[worried33]

it usually goes against people when they taking none or light painkillers and no refferals, but thats not the patients fault as its down to whatever treatment is given to them.

 

I would appeal.