To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
As most readers of this blog will know Carerwatch discussion forum was taken down last week. Full details here.
We contacted Atos and our initial letter to them can be read here
We stated that all communications would be posted in the open as this blog is the only means we have left to reach some of our members.
Today we received a reply -
Dear Frances,
Thank you for your email. We acknowledge that the closure of the forum has caused unnecessary concern for your members and would like to assure you that this was never our intention. Our request was that the libellous content relating to Atos Healthcare and our employees be taken down in order to protect the reputation of our employees and company against the false and malicious allegations that were posted.
We fully support the right of people to express their opinions and would very much like to work with you to ensure your forum is reinstated as soon as possible. I would invite you to call me on the number below, so we can discuss further.
Best regards
Caroline
CarerWatch never received any such request.
We are still not aware of which content Atos considered ‘libellous’
We are unaware of false and malicious allegations
We are pleased Atos have agreed to work with us as there are still issues to be resolved.
Our latest reply to the above statement was sent earlier and reads –
Dear Caroline
Thank you for your letter. We are pleased that you want to take steps to resolve this matter.
We can’t imagine that any content on our site is libellous to ATOS. Obviously if it was we would remove it but we cannot think how this can be the case.
Please can you supply details of the comments on our private discussion group that you consider libellous to ATOS so that we can understand what you are concerned about.
Frances
_____________________________ Original blog.
The first piece of this is the amazing GUEST BLOG FROM TENTACLES OF DOOM
Atos are the French IT outsourcing company who’s Atos Healthcare arm have been running Work Capability Assessment for the Department of Work and Pensions.
Lots of people are unhappy about Employment Support Allowance, about the assessments, and about the way that Atos run them. There have been protests outside Atos offices using slogans such as “ATOS kills” to express their feelings. Lots of people have explained why they are unhappy with Atos in blogs, on social networks, and in support forums.
It seems that Atos don’t like this. They have started issuing legal threats, and they have succeeded in shutting down some of their opposition. Various websites and forums have spoken out against ATOS and collected personal stories about them. After ATOS first received a take down request in May 2011. Atos lawyers recently threatened legal action against Paul Smith who runs the “Atos Register of Shame” website, accusing him of libel and claiming that ”This is a direct attack on Atos and the name of the website in and of itself is implying that Atos carries on its business in a manner which is shameful.”
They have also shut down a support forum for carers, CarerWatch, by contacting their server host directly and having it taken down. This has removed a vital support network from many carers, presumably because of private discussions about Atos in members only parts of the forum. Apparently people are not even allowed to talk about Atos now, despite needing to do so to support each other when going through tests administered by Atos.
CarerWatch is an internet forum for sick and disabled people and their unpaid family carers. This is a private forum and only members are allowed to make/read posts.
We understand from the organisation that hosts our forum that they received a letter from your solicitors threatening to sue us for libel. The provider immediately closed our site down.
We have many members who are very fragile and the sudden disappearance of a support group has caused a lot of distress and fear. Some are ringing us in tears. We cannot get in contact with all of them though as we have lost their contact details through the closure.
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. Obviously if any post was possibly libellous we would have removed it and all this distress could have been avoided.
We imagine this distress is unintended and hope you will work with us in looking at the problem and finding a solution.
Please note that this letter, and any reply received from yourselves, will be posted on our website. It is the only means left to us to reach some members and keep them updated.
It is vital we have our forum up and running again to reach those that are isolated.
Frances
On behalf of CarerWatch members
Obviously, I don’t want my website taken down. I have been careful to state only known facts here. These are the facts that I know.
Atos Healthcare carries out Work Capability Assessments for the DWP.
The contract is worth approximately £100 million per year.
There has been a sharp rise in people found fit for work
There has been a sharp rise in people appealing that decision
40% of those that appeal, win, rising to 70% with legal representation.
Although the decision over “fit to work” lies with the DWP,a government review found that the DWP are institutionally incapable of overriding the Atos Health Care Professionals. The Atos recommendation is, in effect, the decision.
Atos employ Health Care Professionals to carry out the assessments. HCPs are a mix of doctors, physiotherapists and nurses. Only people with certain problems will definitely see doctors.
Atos use their own Lima computer system to record the patient’s answers. Lima has been widely criticised.
The HCP fills in Lima by choosing keywords and statements from a list and then justifying them.
An Atos recruiter said “We don’t call them patients . . . We call them claimants.”
In the end, although there is much to criticise with the way that Atos carry out ESA WCAs, they may really only be doing what the government expects of them. The descriptors that are used to make the decision of whether a person is fit for work or not are set out in the by the government. (See The Employment and Support Allowance (Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity) (Amendment) Regulations 2011) I personally question whether Atos accurately records if a patient fits the descriptors or not, and their ability to do so given the way that Lima Works or the staff that are used. Even if they do make an accurate record in line with the government’s descriptors, it is questionable whether the descriptors are an accurate description of being fit for work or not. Even then, it seems that decision makers at the DWP are “institutionally incapable” of taking into account all of the relevant information for the case as they are supposed to, instead simply rubber stamping the recommendation made by Atos. It would seem that the appeals tribunals are making a fairer judgement on this issue than Atos or the DWP.
A French-owned IT company awarded a £100m government contract to carry out benefits assessments has been slammed by charities after forcing a thriving support forum for disabled people and their carers to shut down over mysterious libel concerns.
The forum, which boasts more than 400 registered users and is run by the successful campaign group CarerWatch, was taken offline on Sunday after its hosting company was contacted by lawyers acting for multinational technology firm Atos. In a letter to the contractor, which has an annual turnover of £4.4 billion, the site’s owners described the devastating effects of the decision:
“We have many members who are very fragile and the sudden disappearance of a support group has caused a lot of distress and fear. Some are ringing us in tears.”
Speaking to Scrapbook, group administrator Rosemary O’Neill said that CarerWatch would have been happy to co-operate with the company if given the chance, saying: “Had they used common courtesy and contacted us direct, we would have removed any possible material they took exception to.”
“It’s a real shame that carers will no longer have a place to turn to support each other. The dispute could have been resolved by discussing it, rather than by just shutting the site down.”
The disproportionate move follows actions against other websites After Atos and Atos Register of Shame. The former was forced to close in May after receiving a cease-and-desist letter objecting to the use of phrases such as “Atos Kills”. But the CarerWatch forum covers a range of issues of benign interest to disability campaigners, and it’s owners claim to have no idea what has provoked the company.
Charities are on the case — and it won’t be long before MPs follow suit.
Just picked up after my dog. Obviously its gone at the time in a bag. So I looked for a bin. Used the bin. A Woman (dare I call her that?) from that street screams at me says USE YER OWN BINS (essentially laced with more abuse than that but for brevity thats the essence of the message portrayed to me) out of a car window when driving off. Now 1) That street is pretty disgustingly filthy dirty 2) they had to drive AROUND a shopping trolley to get their car out 3) I PICKED THE SHIT UP FOR FUCK SAKE. 4) Why the hell cant I use a bin thats left on the street?
I didnt go in any garden to get to a bin. ITS ONLY A FUCKING DUSTBIN AND IT WERENT THEIR BIN EITHER!
The good news is that the council have found a lovely flat for me and my husband. It is affordable, on one level and is wheelchair ready should I need one indoors in the future. It even has a garden, so the dog will be happy. The bad news is that I am starting to worry whether either of us will survive the impossibly physically exhausting packing process and having our totally bonkers but very enthusiastic ADHD son organising the physical move of all our worldly goods. After the move on Monday, we will be without internet access for a while, so I won't be around.
