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ATOS, the NHS & PIP
It has been successive governments policy that doctors should not be involved in decisions about benefits (hence the introduction of IB and what is now the WCA). As a matter of routine DWP do not contact a claimants own health care professionals for information before making DLA and ESA decisions.
Yet now the government is contracting with a private company which in turn is contracting with some of the very same healthcare professionals government says it does not want to be involved in making decisions about benefit entitlement (I know they will argue that the will not actually be making decisions - but how long is a piece of spin?).
You really couldn’t make it up!
see today’s rightsnet news story -
I can’t wait to go to Physioworld
It puts Disneyworld to shame
So what happens if ATOS delegate their WCA assessment to my local hospital, the same one that is supplying my medical evidence to counter the DWP evidence?
I can’t wait to go to Physioworld
It puts Disneyworld to shame
Perhaps its like Alton Towers, claimants will have to stand in the cold for two hours to get a go on the treadmill and then pay a fiver for a blurry photo of them trying to mobilse for 50 metres
They also carry out mental health assessments.
http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/10-scariest-thrill-rides-on-the-planet/3
Still at least the healthcare profesional will be able to ‘double up’ carrying out the PIP assessment whilst providing NHS treatment at the same time (thus saving some public money which can go to ATOS shareholders).
Will the staff employed by the sub-contrator be doing the assessments on top of their day job? We are all aware of the long hours many NHS and other health staff already work.
Thats a thought, would the NHS trusts be able to look at the patients medical records- if they can and the others can’t then we might end up with a postcode lottery