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Anyone heard of the Engaging Physicians, Benefiting Patients Project? Thought not! We stumbled upon this by accident a couple of weeks ago when trying to argue with IB section that a MH client should be exempt from the PCA and therefore not have to complete the IB50 he'd been sent. IB section said that they didn't do that anymore, it was done by Medical Services. Further investigation has revealed that the above project has been operating in Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside since April without any publicity or contact being made with advisers. In fact no other Jobcentre Plus staff, including the Customer Services Manager were aware of it. As well as being angry that DWP have sneaked a pilot project out with no local info I am concerned about how this affects the exemption process, especially for MH clients as in this area IB113 forms are no longer sent out and the information gathering for exemption appears to be being done by Medical services sending the client an IB50.
For me, Reg6(3)(1)(b) seems to say that if Secretary of State has sufficient evidence for exemption then he doesn't need to carry out a PCA, therefore wouldn't need to send IB50. If this project says this evidence is obtained by IB50 surely the PCA has started? Any comments will be greatly apppreciated as I'm trying to get the whole process clear in my head before contacting the person who is managing the project.
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