Black Triangle Campaign
Initial response to the news that Atos has sub-contracted Salus to carry out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) across Scotland
Atos has announced that it has now appointed NHS Lanarkshire to carry out consultations for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment delivery in Scotland
What a perverse situation – a private misery monger appointing an NHS structure to deliver their contract!
Surely the DWP could have cut out the middle man on this one or would that be breaching contracts agreed with these private corporations?
We don’t even know if the DWP could have done so because vital information on the nature of these contracts are labelled ‘commercially sensitive’ and are thus outwith the public domain.
NHS Lanarkshire will carry out the assessment for the whole of Scotland from June 2013 and may sub-contract some work to other health boards.
Can SALUS – AtoS’s subcontractor to NHS Lanarkshire – provide the necessary staff capacity to deliver this Scotland-wide or will it prove to be just another Serco-scale fiasco waiting to happen such as we have seen in the GP out-of-hours cover scandal in Cornwall and NHS pathology labs in London?
A spokesman for NHS Lanarkshire has said:
“NHS Lanarkshire is committed to ensuring everyone assessed is treated with dignity and receives a professional service”
But what specific assurances can SALUS give to demonstrate they will not make the same sorts of errors that ATOS are making with the Work Capability Assessment?
What risk assessments will be done and specifically how will they ensure that claimants are not put at substantial risk – what equivalent regulations will exist to mitigate against this risk?
For example, will there be an exemption clause that states clearly:
‘Because of your physical or mental health condition or disability there would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person, including you , if you were found ineligible for PIP.’
We also need to ask what discussions, if any, have SALUS had with Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) regarding the delivery of these assessments?
We must insist that the principle “Nothing About Us Without Us” be given full effect!
A spokeswoman for Atos Healthcare has said:
“PIP consultations will be conducted by health practitioners that have first-class expertise in dealing with the needs of disabled people.”
A very interesting statement!
It is crystal clear that standards in the DWP/AtoS WCA régime are appalling and this statement tacitly acknowledges that fact.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!
Health Care Practitioners that have first-class expertise in dealing with the needs of disabled people should be utilised forthwith in the ESA Assessments ALSO and the WCA must be scrapped with immediate effect!
The root of the problem with both assessments is the so-called ‘Biopsychosocial Model of Disability’ against which both Black Triangle and our sister organisation Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have been campaigning hard.
This toxic root must be utterly extirpated from the assessment system if we are to have a fair, rigorous and safe disability assessment régime that does not cause avoidable, serious and sometimes even fatal harm to sick and/or disabled people.
We therefore cautiously welcome this latest development while continuing to fight unrelentingly against the obscene injustice that passes for so-called “disability assessment medicine” today.
And not just for us in Scotland – but for ALL the sick and/or disabled people of these isles!
Solidarity!
~ Black Triangle Campaign
Related post by Black Triangle friend and ally Johnny Void:
Atos to Sub-Contract PIP Contract Back to NHS!
Why do Scotland have a fairer system than england being mistreated with A.T.O.S. Please give us the same opportunity and SACK A.T.O.S,they don’t give a toss about us ,ONLY PROFIT.
still atos in control they will get nhs reports fix them so they can and will do get their bonuses and guese whot the nhs will get the blame for failling you and that in it self is a win for atos who now got nhs doing the work they can hide behind think on that one still the same players atos in control jeff3
Thanks black Triangle for you hard work for all of us in Britain. Does commercially sensitive data actually mean downright lies? Until the WCA is completely destroyed disabled people whether mentally or physically disabled will be denied the help that they truly deserve, until people decide that working for these money making companies like Atos and unum and DWP is morally wrong disabled people will be denied the help they deserve and until this truly evil ConDem government are removed from office and tried for crimes against Humanity disabled people will continue to be murdered.
To quote Johnny Void : “Salus, who will now carry out assessments, boast on their website that they: “are one of the very few organisations in the UK which utilise the bio psychosocial model as recommended by Dame Carol Black in her report ‘Working for a Healthier Tomorrow’ (2008).”
This is a very smart move. The policies won’t thange, there will be a huge reduction in the people awarded Disability Living Allowance, and the people in the front line who get criticised by claimants will be NHS staff. This doesn’t look like good news at all……
This being the case it is now open for the WCA in rest of uk to be passed on to another party for a all round fairer system….if people are ill/disabled then the last thing they need is to hassled and told they are fit for work…..totally wrong and needs changing without further delay.
I wonder if the NHS sub-contractor will employ those doctors who have called for the WCA to be scrapped?
Could be very interesting if we have genuine doctors declaring everybody too ill to work in Scotland, while in England 90% are found fit to work by so called “health professionals” who don’t follow the Hippocratic oath (which is the first sign of professionalism in the medical profession.)
I’ve got an “A” level in statistics (from the days before “A” levels were dished out like Smarties to make the Government’s education figures look good) and know that the percentages for both countries should be as near to each other as makes no difference given the enormous sample sizes.
http://virtualgherkin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/1-doctor-for-every-75-hps-atos-pip.html