Work Capability Assessment Work and Pensions
Stephen Timms (East Ham, Labour)
“To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 23 April 2012, Official Report, column 668W, on work capability assessments, what information his Department holds on the back-to-work prognosis of claimants who have been assessed under the work capability assessment.
- Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 11 June 2012, c283W)
Chris Grayling (Minister of State (Employment), Work and Pensions; Epsom and Ewell, Conservative)
The Department holds information on Atos’ recommendations for prognosis periods for standard prognosis periods of three, six, 12, 18 months, not for two years, not in the longer term, terminally ill and unknown. These are recommendations only and the final decision on prognosis periods rests solely with the Department’s decision makers taking into account the medical assessment reports from Atos and any other relevant information.
The Department’s computer systems track the decision makers’ decisions on prognosis periods. This information, however, is not extracted from the computer systems and therefore this information is not included in management information or administrative datasets.
BLACK TRIANGLE’S Joe Kane COMMENTS:
Atos assessments aren’t medical assessments. They’re “functional” assessments based on a patient’s ability do tasks. They’ve nothing whatsoever to do with medical science, the NHS nor even medical ethics for that matter.
When sub-fuhrer Grayling refers to ‘prognosis’ he can’t be meaning it in the medical sense, which makes his whole reply an example of abuse towards sick and disabled patients, as he has no idea about the status of the health and disability problems of patients subjected to these non-medical Atos assessments and, therefore, has no idea about how their medical condition will progress or regress.
Grayling has no medical qualifications and experience and neither do DWP “decision makers” – which itself is not a recognised medical specialism or job title.
2 Responses
We Really Need a Better System of Government than this Dictator of the Politicians
Now
so thats labour and torys whot to put the boot into the sick disabled and the unemployed so it looks like there no change there then labour started it with the smilling assassin blaire and now torys killing us with thier kindness how the lot of them who in the great house do they the rest wake up and see whot they do no im afraid it look like the whole terrible lying lot will have to go before any change jeff3