http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d599 ... _el_250398" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Letter from Dr Omar Najim on behalf of the Civil and Public Services Committee (CPSC) in response to the "Well Enough to Work?" article published week 8th Feb.
* Dr Omar Najim, Chairman of the Civil and Public Services Committee (CPSC)
BMA
Margaret McCartney's investigation of Atos Healthcare procedures is timely. There are some inaccuracies, however. No-one with evidence of terminal cancer should ever be disallowed benefit, but will qualify at the highest monetary rate under what are known as Special Rules. There is also misunderstanding over the approach of "Disability Analysis", which is a functional rather than a diagnostic assessment. This is necessary as many serious medical conditions can now be stabilised by modern treatment and some may enter a phase of remission. Thirdly, further medical evidence is frequently sought from the GP but is difficult to obtain in the required time scale. Nor does it always provide up to date information about present functional ability, especially when the patient has not been recently seen.
These caveats aside, Dr McCartney's article raises valid and important points. She asks if we can be confident that Atos doctors are doing their professional duty with respect to reports. We wish to report two serious matters which have emerged in feedback from our members engaged in this work and which appear to amplify these concerns.
Firstly, doctors are now in a minority in the Atos workforce. Nurse practitioners exceed them in a cost-cutting trend that is likely to continue. Furthermore, many of the doctors are EU recruits and less likely to remain in the job over the long-term. The attrition rate of medical personnel is high, but even higher among the nurses now making highly specialised assessments on benefit entitlement in lieu of doctors.
Secondly, all Atos medical personnel are subject to detailed monthly monitoring regarding the time taken over reports, the throughput, and the "quality" of their work (as assessed by software which our members regard as currently flawed). Included in these monthly statistics is the rate of likely disallowance of benefit and the number of times a Support Group (which is awarded the highest rate of benefit) is indicated. Although the final decision is made by the DWP decision maker the Harrington report has found that the Atos practitioner's report is rarely questioned at this stage Dr McCartney is correct in noting that the rate of disallowance has almost doubled since Employment Support Allowance (ESA) took over from Incapacity Benefit, and also that 40% of new ESA reports are currently being overturned by the Appeals Service. We have been told that pressure is being brought to bear on health care practitioners who do not achieve a stiff monthly disallowance rate target, although Atos denies that such targets exists.
Every individual practitioner is responsible for upholding an appropriate code of ethics, as both the GMC and NMC would confirm. In the case of Atos practitioners, we fear that this obligation is being made all the harder by the difficult circumstances in which they work."
MURDERERS. Need to dispose of a body? Simply parcel it up and post it to yourself via DHL. You will never see it again.
, this has opened my eyes quite a bit 
and made me even more paranoid 
about Royal Mail, the DWP and them slippery no good lying money grabbing bastards at Atos Healthcare....... 
I'm not in the least bit surprise, it was only a matter of time before this happened, and will happen again. I hope there is a way these companies can be sued.