Atos Healthcare, the company employed by the UK Department of Work and Pensions to decide who is entitled to employment support allowance, is moving to shut down websites, forums and online support groups that criticise its assessment process.
Atos’ Healthcare arm uses an automated system – the company’s own Logic Integrated Medical Assessment (LiMA) software – to help doctors and nurses assess claimants. The healthcare professional fills in a digital questionnaire on LiMA on behalf of the patient by choosing keywords and statements from a list and then justifying them.
The software has been widely criticised in blogs, on social networks, and in support forums. A group known as the Black Triangle, which campaigns for disability rights, is now calling for Atos to be removed from the DWP contract.
In response, Atos has begun issuing legal threats against websites and forums that aggregate patients’ experiences of the assessment process, accusing them of libel. The so-called ‘Atos Register of Shame‘ – which contained a list of healthcare professionals who had allegedly performed sub-standard medical assessments – was forced to close last week.
Atos has also succeeded in closing down the CarerWatch discussion forum – a forum for sick and disabled people and their unpaid family carers – via the site’s server host. According to a post on the CarerWatch blog, the website administrators have not been contacted directly by Atos and are unaware of any issues causing concerns.
“All this distress could have been avoided if you had had the courtesy to contact us first and tell us what had been posted on our site that you considered libellous,” Kelly added. “Obviously if any post was possibly libellous we would have removed it and all this distress could have been avoided.”
When contacted by eWEEK Europe, Atos Healthcare was unapologetic about the inconvenience caused, and defended the campaign to take down websites which damage the company’s reputation.
“Atos Healthcare is committed to delivering high quality services to all users of our services and we take seriously any incidents where these standards are not maintained,” said Atos in a statement emailed to eWEEK Europe.
“While we fully support the right of people to express their opinions, it is our duty to protect the reputation of our employees and company against false and malicious allegations. In such circumstances, we will look to take any necessary steps to ensure that these unsupported claims are addressed swiftly and appropriately.”
Twelve doctors employed byAtos Healthcare are currently under investigation by the General Medical Council over allegations of improper conduct. The doctors face being struck off if they are found not to have put the care of patients first.
The work and pensions select committee chair Anne Begg MP acknowledged last month that Atos Healthcare’s service had “often fallen short of what claimants can rightly expect,” and said that “the department needs to do more to ensure that Atos treats claimants properly and that it produces accurate assessments.”
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At the end of the day ATOS are on to a hiding to nothing when their bluff is called and they get someone into court.
There is a massive amount of collated documented evidence against ATOS.
I suspect ATOS are in fear of a class legal action like the one against Unum Provident in America with cost Unum very dearly in compensating people they had wrongly found fit for work.
Of interest is the issue of recorded medical assessments which would at once prove if there was a case for ATOS & the DWP to answer. Though there has been a pilot it has yet to report under Prof. Harringtons last review of WCA. I am minded that ATOS are responsible to the DWP just as the DWP have duties of care to there claimants. This line gets distorted. I venture any class action would have to include the DWP also. I get the feeling that many within the DWP those who deal with claimants on the phone are also none to pleased with what they hear. At the end of the day ATOS and the DWP should understand there will be comment in certain cases that maybe highly critical. This however goes with the territory. If ATOS were to sue and loose than a counterclaim would could be made against them & DWP. I also don't think the government have the appetite for the adverse publicity this would generate. We need transparency here and if some one has complained to a professional body about one of there employee's and an enquiry is being undertaken than placing that in the public domain merely saves a Freedom of Information request. Anne Begg and her committee are very well aware of the issues from my experience.
The actions which Atos have recently taken are nothing short of playground bullying and the putting down of democratic free speech.
I am one of the people who's site was closed down, The "Atos Register of Shame" was a website that allowed people to send in their personal horror stories of Atos and the treatment dished out by that company.
The legal letter claimed my website was Libelous, the name Atos Register of Shame was defamatory, why? They say because it infers their company Atos does not provide a good service, they provide an awful service and abuse their customers/clients, as the above poster has said there is enough documented evidence to back this up.
They can continue to close websites/forums down as much as they like, others will start up, campaigns will grow, the name Atos will become synonymous with ill treatment of the vulnerable, the impoverished, the weak, the least able, the name Atos will be blackened everywhere.
If any other privatised company produced results like Atos do then there would be a huge investigation, over 40% of claims being refused are then reinstated at appeal or tribunal level, this is an appalling performance level but our government (DWP) thinks it's OK, they refuse to remove a companywhich is failing, they refuse to claim back taxpayers money from Atos for their poor performance, there has been no Audit of the companies performance in regard to the contract Atos have with the DWP, why would a government not Audit a private company which has a contract worth over a billion pounds over ten years? Something very suspicous is going on, soon it will all come out and some very red faces will be seen, CORRUPTION is the word people need to think about.
Politicians are getting fed up of seeing their postbags filled with complaints about how their constituents have been treated by Atos, we are also seeing suicides which can be attributed to the hell people suffer under Atos, one person died a couple of minutes after their Atos assessment in the waiting room, very soon people will be held to account.
Bring it on Atos, the more you attack us the stronger we get.
You have done our community a great service and I thank you. I have been closely following this matter as you would imagine. Funny but I think the coverage the closure of your site by ATOS had the opposite effect - it actually promoted it. You are of course correct that when one closes another opens and I would encourage people to use the internet to tell there experience. I have been involved in welfare reform for a few years now. I think we are slowly winning the arguement that this is about saving money only by attacking the weakest in our society. I wish you well in your future endeavours as I know you will "pop up" again.
This behaviour by ATOS is blatentent discrimination and breaks every rule in the Book..bIt is Corruption at the Highest level and the British Government have passed the Buck.. so the Blood is not on their hands..
I am an injured NHS Nurse ..Now retire recently from Ill Health from a work induced injury ..ATOS lied about me too as well as the DWP.. all to avoid payments and litigations...I have even had to threaten my own GP to get support for an injury which was NOT my FAULT...
It seems they have a "reputation" for inaccuracy and incompetance. Not something I would want to shout about personally.
Yes we will get stronger,mine to is a horror story and if enough people shout we will be heard and im starting to SHOUT.
Cant you open up the website without using atos in the title and people could find it word of mouth. I would love to name and shame the doctor who has made my life into a living hell. I have no quality of life since they took my benefits away. We live on a pittance. So if atos wants to sue us for libel they made one big mistake by stopping our money, because now we have none. I just have bailliffs and threatening letters which I never had before. And I am not surprised there has been suicides because I would be a liar if I said I hadnt contemplated that. Anything would be better than the life atos has left me with
Having accompanied a claimant as an independent witness at their ATOS assessment, I can't see that ATOS have a leg to stand on.
The doctor who performed the assessment deliberately ignored the claimant's complex medical history and all supporting documents (including, but not exclusively, a CVI (Certificate of Visual Impairment). By DWP and ATOS's own guidelines and regulations, the claimant had already scored 15 points on the assessment and should have never been called in for an assessment in the first place.
At the end of the interview, the doctor told the claimant that he was recommending the claimant NEVER return to work. In extreme contrast, the medical report he filed (ESA85) to the DWP recommended that the claimant be placed in the Work Related Activity Group! He blatantly lied on the ESA85 and to the claimant.
Considering the fact that ATOS doctors receive a monetary bonus for every person either deemed Fit For Work or recommended for WRAG, and they are fully aware they receive a bonus, then providing a false ESA85 to the DWP is "receiving monies through false representation" (also read FRAUD), and is an arrestable offense.
Has nobody considered reporting ATOS doctors to the police for false representation once they have discovered the doctor lied on the ESA85?
I think it's appalling that these crooks have been made above the law and are not answerable to anyone. They are even exempt from the Freedom Of Information Act!
Something needs to be done before this company bleeds our country dry!
IT SEEMS THESE ATOS MEDICS ARE ABOVE THE LAW.. I have a case being fought currently against the NHS a scheme for injured Nurses and these Occupational Health ATOS Doctors are hidden behind the Data Protection Act 1998.. I have asked under the FOI to provide me with data of my assessors.. the NHS FOI Manager refused.. So these guys are protected.. its all about ££££MONEY££££ They dont give a STUFF that they have injured ME and ruined my life! had to give up a good job albeit tailored to my condition which they the NHS caused..
ATOS are a failed, completely disgraced, company with a proven track record of deliberate dishonesty, conscious bias and fraud against the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
Perhaps it is this, rather than a few websites, which causes them to have such a terrible reputation?
No-one with any brains believes a word they say or any of their figures.
Just to add to what Paul Smith has said regarding the appeals statistics.
The 40% of appeals being won rises to a staggering 70% when apellants have legal representation/welfare rights officer at Tribunal. And remember that not everyone feels mentally/emotionally and/or physically capable of appealing a decision against them, so with representation that 70% could become 80 or 90%. These are after all, genuinely sick & disabled people. The DWP's own figures are that benefit fraud is 0.5%. Hardly worth the Govt spending a £billion over 10yrs on ATOS plus the considerable millions per year that appeals are costing.
I would suggest eWeek Europe check this link, written by a former Healthcare Proffessional, for starters:
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2011/08/23/important-read-circulate/
What's happening is horrific & justice must prevail before more lives are devastated & lost.
Classing myself as an Atos survivor after being awarded zero points at the Athos medical only to have it overturned in 15 minutes at tribuneral were I was assessed by humans and not LIMA software. I find these stats alarming to say the least, it took nearly two years to reach tribuneral in which time, I too considered calling it a day and it was only the support, that not everyone has,that stopped me doing anything silly. However, I would not wish what I went through on my worst enemy. And now to see that according to DWP's own statistics that only 0.5% of claims are fraudulent leaves me very raw and thinking that there must be some sort of badly hidden agenda? We are not all malingerers! and I'm pretty sure that most would happily have a job and good health if possible and I've never met anyone who has chosen too be unwell! it seems to me that Atos work on a 'blood bounty' approach which cant be right? so much for the cradle to the grave, well if thats the case, Aneurin Bevan will be turning in his!.....
ATOS don't have a reputation to protect they destroyed that the moment they got in bed with the government IMHO. No one who has had a site closed down by the threatening letters of the ATOS legal department has said they have being provided with proof of the legal departments accusations, they are basically threatening providers of a free service with what could be an expense they cannot commit to so have no option but to comply. No matter what they do the truth will come out. Eventually the only option left to ATOS will be to prosecute the poster of what they claim is "false & malicious" The first time they try this you can bet they ask that the media are banned from reporting on the case and the only question that should be asked is "What have you got to hide?"
If ATOS genuinely didn't have a leg to stand on - then by their own standards they would be fit for work ...
The time has come to force the matter into open court where ATOS would be exposed. As alluded to in earlier posts MPs,despite increasing levels of complaint from voters are failing the people they are elected to represent in not forcing ATOS to explain how its methods are failing consistently in 40% of cases. Equally however the DWPs 'decision makers' are also interpreting those ATOS results incorrectly. It suggests that the formula used is at fault OR is being deliberately abused in order to remove people from entitlement to benefits. Perhaps the courts will ask the awkward questions? (Although it must be noted that some member of the legal establishment has already seen fit to support ATOS claims that certain websites are 'libelous' without any proof that anything said on those websites is untrue). We are up against the 'establishment' here and it will be difficult but not impossible,no stone can be left unturned however,organisation is key as is support from leading public figures. I wish campaigners God Speed.
Don't blame ATOS for everything. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for allowing ATOS to operate out of inaccessible buildings with inaccessible parking.
DWP should face a judicial review for not ensuring that their contractor, ATOS, complies with the "reasonable adjustments" requirements of the Equality Act 2010. This continuing failure of ATOS is a breach of equality law.
DWP is also responsible for allowing a situation to continue where £50 million in public funds is wasted each year on avoidable appeals against inappropriate ATOS decisions.
Why is the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Government Equalities Office doing nothing to stop this continuing denial by DWP of the human rights of disabled people? This situation is crying out for a judicial review! Who will take it on?