THIS is what we are dealing with! — Scope | Disability forum
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THIS is what we are dealing with!

sandyp196
sandyp196 Community member Posts: 142 Pioneering
I had this email from benefits news this morning. Can anyone tell me how true this information is? I believe it all but I have mental health problems with include issues around the government ao it fits for me. I'm in a good phase right now so I'm trying to look at things with a bit more objectivity than i usually do. . 
I'm shocked at this email. Especially the letter the dwp allegedly sends to your doctor about not issuing sick note.  

I can't post the pics of the email. I havent been able to post pics on this site for a weeK.  I don't know why, (I know this because I was trying to post a pic on thr handmade post a few days ago) I will try and share a link instead or copy and paste.  

Comments

  • sandyp196
    sandyp196 Community member Posts: 142 Pioneering

    This is the full email. 

    In this edition we reveal the shameful truth behind the overwhelmingly positive feedback the DWP claims it gets from people who have undergone PIP assessments.

    And we discover how the DWP is deliberately inflicting hardship on ESA appeals claimants by misleading GPs.

    We also learn that 70% of DWP staff think that the roll out of universal credit should be stopped and discover the millions being saved by preventing claimants getting legal aid.

     

    POSITIVE PIP FEEDBACK
    The DWP has repeatedly defended the PIP and ESA assessment systems from criticism by arguing that over 90% of claimants are happy with their experience.

    Even the commons Work and Pensions Committee, which was overwhelmingly critical of PIP assessments, was persuaded by the figures. The committee said it accepted that ‘The PIP and ESA assessment processes function satisfactorily for the majority of claimants’.

    In fact, Benefits and Work can reveal that PIP feedback is based on around 1% of claimants being asked just one single question:

    “How satisfied were you with your overall experience with Capita / Independent Assessment Service’.”

    In most cases the claimant is phoned by a Capita or Atos (IAS) employee and asked this question. Occasionally they are written to instead.

    So they know that the feedback isn’t anonymous and many will fear that a negative response could affect the outcome of current or future assessments.

    For ESA, claimants are asked 5 questions, but fewer than half a percent are asked to give feedback.

    For both benefits, claimants are asked nothing about the accuracy of the report or whether any additional evidence provided was taken into account. Yet it is failings in these areas that cause a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst claimants.

    And, because the companies have customer satisfaction targets built into their contracts, there is a real conflict of interest for them: why would they go out of their way to collect feedback that might be negative?

    It is time that those with a responsibility for holding the DWP to account looked more closely at the quality of the feedback the DWP relies upon, instead of accepting it at face value and letting the assessment companies off the hook.

     

    DWP DELIBERATELY MISLEADING GPs
    The DWP is deliberately inflicting hardship on claimants who appeal against ESA decisions by misleading GPs into refusing to issue sick notes.

    Claimants who challenge a fit for work decision cannot claim ESA during the mandatory reconsideration stage. They may be able to claim JSA, but many claimants don’t for fear of sanctions.

    However, if the mandatory reconsideration is unsuccessful, claimants can then lodge an appeal and reclaim ESA whilst waiting for their case to be heard.

    But the DWP have changed the letters that they send out to GPs when a claimant is found fit for work. The letters tell the GP not to issue any more sick notes and no longer say they can do so if the claimant appeals the decision.

    The result, as legal advice charity Zacchaeus 2000 Trust discovered, is claimants going hungry because they have no money for food. Claimants may also have to change to a new GP practice to try to find a doctor who will issue them with a sick note.

    The DWP have offered no explanation whatsoever for the change in the wording of the letter, except that it was altered as a result of a ‘ministerial requirement’.

    That it is a ministerial requirement that claimants be caused as much suffering as possible, regardless of the law, will probably come as no surprise to our readers.

     

    OTHER NEWS
    A Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) survey of members working at the DWP has found that 70% want the roll out of Universal Credit to be stopped.

    And 79% say that there are not enough staff to cope with demand.

    The claims were aired in a Dispatches programme earlier this week.

    Meanwhile, the savings to the public purse from preventing claimants getting legal aid for help with benefits have now been revealed.

    For ESA, savings of almost 97% have been made, from £2.8 million for help with ESA in 2010/11 down to £92,000 last year.

    In 2010 the cost of legal aid for DLA was over £7 million. Last year the combined figure for PIP and DLA had plunged to £50,000 – a drop of over 99%.

    And, of course, beyond these savings are the tens of millions more that have undoubtedly been saved.

    Because many thousands of claimants will have missed out on benefits they were entitled to because they had no-one to help them through the claims and appeals process.

    Good luck,

    Steve Donnison

  • Misscleo
    Misscleo Community member Posts: 647 Pioneering
    Many thanks for showing us this emails.
    We must do more to make sure that people get legal aid.
    May i suggest EVERYONE contacts their mp and find out which side of the fence they sit.
    Without legal aid noone will get what they deserve 
  • Government_needs_reform
    Government_needs_reform Community member Posts: 859 Pioneering
    Yes re Dr. this is true what the DWP are doing regarding fit notes for refused ESA, here is some further info on what is happening. A good few Dr's etc have signed this.

    Following this article about DWP interference in the way that GPs treat patients who have been refused ESA, DPAC have initiated a letter to the Royal College of GPs and the BMA GP Section, asking those organisations to get involved in this issue.
    The letter to the Royal College of GPs is copied below and the one to the BMA is identical. We will publish on this blog the responses we get from them.

    To: Professor Mayur Lakhani, President of the Royal College of General Practice

     

    CC:

    Editor Pulse Today

    Editor Disability News Service

    Second copy to : Chair of the General Practitioners Committee UK Dr Richard Vautrey

    Dear Mayur

    We write as a group of concerned health professionals and disability campaigners regarding a recent change by the Department of Work and Pensions which we feel will gravely impact on the doctor / patient relationship between GPs and disabled people claiming benefits.

    The DWP has issued a new ESA65B, the form used to inform a patient’s GP of their WCA outcome. This form which requests GPs not to send any further fit notes for ESA purposes after a claimant has been found fit for work, unless they appeal had already been at the centre of a controversy.

    A claimant, James Harrison died 10 months after being found fit for work and after the jobcentre asked his GP not to issue further fit notes for ESA purposes. James Harrison wanted a fit note because he was too ill to attend the jobcentre appointments, but his GP refused to issue them (Metro), this being just one bleak example of the distress and hardship enacted on people through the current callous benefit regime.

    The new ESA65B form which is headed ‘Help us support your patient to return to or start work’ has an added paragraph

    In the course of any further consultations with [Title] [First name] [Surname] we hope you will also encourage [select] in [select] efforts to return to, or start, work. (extract from the DWP’s letter to GPs)

    It is all in keeping with DWP’s insistence that not only work is good for health, but also should be a ‘health outcome’. This recurring mantra from the DWP is based on the thinnest veneer of evidence, a single study, which was commissioned by the DWP itself in 2006, which does not even fully support the generalised conclusion that “work is good for you”.

    The DWP has also not taken into account other, more in-depth research that concludes that unemployment is less harmful for mental health than a poor quality and insecure job..

    There are many reasons, from a clinical point of view, why this action of co-opting doctors by the DWP is wrong and Dr Jay Watts, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, lists some of them:

    Health professionals across the country will be horrified at this latest interference from the DWP – a move that undermines clinical expertise and threatens the safety of patients. There are a number of problems. First the letter places the expertise of DWP-funded ESA assessors above that of GPs. This is despite the fact GPs are more qualified to assess mental health, and can do so with the benefits of having known the patient for years, often decades (as opposed to in a one-off assessment).

    The DWP letter makes clear that they wish claimants to return to work at any cost, even if that means leaving a current occupation – an attack on the core identity of patients likely to have a damaging effect on mental health.

    Second, the letter states that “we know most people are better off in work”. This ignores a considerable literature showing that work can be damaging for mental health, with poor work environments a frequent trigger to mental breakdown. Economic evidence shows that rushing people back into work increases the likelihood of long-term illness.

    How then can it be right to encourage GPs to coerce patients back to work, a pressure likely to increase the feelings of shame, despair and anxiety at not working that have been exacerbated by the governments relentless and damaging campaign to associate worklessness with worthlessness?

    Third, the pressure the DWP is exerting on GPs to ‘encourage’ patients back to work, and desist from providing fit notes, is an attack on clinical expertise and the sanctity of the clinical space and clinical decision-making.

    Without a firm denouncement of this letter from Royal College of General Practitioners, we risk a situation where claimants will feel unwilling to make appointments with their GPs, given the level of fear the DWP and the work agenda elicits, with damaging and potentially life-threatening effects on the physical and mental health of claimants.

    It is vital that health professionals speak up for claimants rights, and insist that fit notes and therapeutic conversations are dictated by the needs of patients not the DWP.

    We the undersigned, both medical professionals and disability campaigners ask that the Royal College of General Practitioners inform its members of the risks to patients from this measure, ask doctors and allied health professionals to use caution and discretion when following DWP instructions.

    We will be publishing this letter to you on the Disabled People Against Cuts website, and look forward to publishing your response.

    ⬇️
    I created one of the campaign election videos for Labour, and Jeremy Corbyn,
    This is a new version of Emeli Sande, Hope "You Are Not Alone
    I highlighted everything that's wrong with this country from benefits, NHS, UC etc, but now we have to put up with the hate now that is the Tories. 

    You can see the video here.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5o8hRHh9IY


  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    Yes. Statistics are often not taken from 100% of anything as it's not possible to have the time to collect such information even if everyone contributed.They're usually taken from a 'representative sample' of people. So even if 1% of claimants replied to the questionnaire it is possible that not even this whole 1% was used as representative data. And of course there are ways of biasing information too, both reputable and non-reputable sources may do this intentionally or unintentionally and is why scientists repeat drug trials and things like this and new drugs take years to become legal or for theories become laws.

    First time i've heard of the GP thing and the way they put it was confusing, but i looked up the trust mentioned and found on their website exactly what is happening and that's shady i gotta say. The exact wording is "As a result of this decision, <Louis> is not entitled to ESA from <date> and you do not need to provide any more fit notes to him relating to his disability/health condition for ESA purposes.” That is confusing imo. If they aren't getting ESA but appealing then they will need sick notes i'm guessing?

    Does everyone appealing need a lawyer? I'm guessing this would help but not even started my appeals process,would've been good to have a lawyer do it for me while i was too ill to do that . 've no doubt they save loads because of denying people benefits.
  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @sandyp196
    Im sorry to hear you are having problems uploading photos, I have made a change to your account, could you try again and let me know the outcome.  Alternatively you can email us on community@scope.org.uk and we can try to resolve this for you.
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    [quote]Second, the letter states that “we know most people are better off in work”.[/quote]

    That explains why they asked me when the last time i worked was. Typical ignorant thinking though, that everyone is the same.

    We live in a society that is run by people who don't even value workers, They expect people to do pointless, monotonous 'training scheme' 'jobs' for no pay just so they can have a basic pittance to live off (if that's not sanctioned) and for those who are doing the more contributory jobs to be charities or to fund their own training and so be charged for that even though these are supposed to be the valued workers and contributors to society, a society that bases all it's laws on supposedly working for it's people and ensuring they have a decent life within that society. Even people working in supermarkets, who are helping us sort out our own basic needs, get paid nothing much as well. Are they mentally happier than not working and being threatened with having nothing to live on or do the exact same job for no pay? I'm sure they are.



  • Government_needs_reform
    Government_needs_reform Community member Posts: 859 Pioneering
    Here is a copy of the letter what it looks like and is sent to your GP Via the DWP and this is a follow on from my above post. Regarding GP's, Dr's.




    ⬇️
    I created one of the campaign election videos for Labour, and Jeremy Corbyn,
    This is a new version of Emeli Sande, Hope "You Are Not Alone
    I highlighted everything that's wrong with this country from benefits, NHS, UC etc, but now we have to put up with the hate now that is the Tories. 

    You can see the video here.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5o8hRHh9IY


  • susan48
    susan48 Community member Posts: 2,221 Disability Gamechanger
    That’s disgraceful 
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    Look at the equality and diversity claim on the bottom. :-1:

    I think it's good that attitudes to disabled people are that many are perfectly able to function in society and should do and not be discriminated against for wanting to but if people are being written off as unable to work then that should be respected also. I wonder if GPs and consultants are offended that their opinion and expertise is being questioned?

  • sleepy1
    sleepy1 Community member Posts: 297 Pioneering

    GPs offered cash to reduce referrals

    http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/commissioning/commissioning-topics/referrals/dereliction-of-duty-gps-offered-cash-to-reduce-referrals/20036240.article

    I had to pester and pester my GP to get a referral back to see a neurologist because I knew things were getting worse, eventually she gave in last November and I got an appointment for this month.  Then a letter arrived last week to say the appointment had been rescheduled until mid June because the Dr was on annual leave! 
    During the wait I have had several falls due to my condition, broken a bone in my foot, sprained my ankle and my wrist and various other minor injuries that entailed many hospital visits.  Where is the saving there?

  • sleepy1
    sleepy1 Community member Posts: 297 Pioneering

    GPs offered cash to reduce referrals

    http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/commissioning/commissioning-topics/referrals/dereliction-of-duty-gps-offered-cash-to-reduce-referrals/20036240.article

    I had to pester and pester my GP to get a referral back to see a neurologist because I knew things were getting worse, eventually she gave in last November and I got an appointment for this month but now thats been rescheduled because the Dr is on annual leave.
    Over the last 6 months of waiting I have had several falls due to my condition resulting in broken bones, sprains and other injuries that have entailed many hospital visits.  So where is the saving there?

    Perhaps this is another sneaky way of the DWP restricting the amount of real specialist medical information available to support our claims and gives them another excuse to stop benefits. 
  • sleepy1
    sleepy1 Community member Posts: 297 Pioneering

    GPs offered cash to reduce referrals

    http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/commissioning/commissioning-topics/referrals/dereliction-of-duty-gps-offered-cash-to-reduce-referrals/20036240.article

    I had to pester and pester my GP to get a referral back to see a neurologist because I knew things were getting worse, eventually she gave in last November and I got an appointment for this month but now thats been rescheduled because the Dr is on annual leave.
    Over the last 6 months of waiting I have had several falls due to my condition resulting in broken bones, sprains and other injuries that have entailed many hospital visits.  So where is the saving there?

    Perhaps this is another sneaky way of the DWP restricting the amount of real specialist medical information available to support our claims and gives them another excuse to stop benefits. 
  • debbiedo49
    debbiedo49 Community member Posts: 2,904 Disability Gamechanger
  • debbiedo49
    debbiedo49 Community member Posts: 2,904 Disability Gamechanger
    Is that why my gp has resisted my requests for referrals? 
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    I put in several requests for my GP to refer me to a muscular/skeletal specialist since october of last year and my consultant also said in a letter it would be beneficial and recommended to my GP to do this but i haven't been referred yet. not sure if they've been putting it off or they're incompetent but that does make me wonder..
  • sleepy1
    sleepy1 Community member Posts: 297 Pioneering
    Sorry guys for the repeat posts, first one vanished so had to type it again then the second one would not send and the pop up said try again so I did.  Then got another pop up saying it would be posted once it had been approved.........Like buses eh!
    Don't know how to delete the first two?
  • sleepy1
    sleepy1 Community member Posts: 297 Pioneering
    It seems like the DWP/Government want to be in full control of the NHS and what access we are allowed to consultants.  Yet we are expected to provide evidence of our health conditions.  I have other conditions that I have been trying to get a referral for at least 18 months but keep getting fobbed off with oh its such a long waiting list, lets try another medication and then another........ and so on!

    I lost all of my PIP recently and all through the assessors report it uses the terms "Under care of GP" and "No specialist input"...........Think I will send a copy of that report above along with a few others in with my MR.

    @feir can your consultant not refer you directly?  Also you will no doubt have your next assessment to fall back on as we all know the HPs working for the likes of Atos are far more experienced at doing muscular/skeletal examinations  :)
  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    My spine consultant referred me to a urologist,and i got referred to the spine consultant via a hip specialist, so they can refer some people to others. I think the muscular skeletal person is in a different hospital so they can't do that unfortunately and is why he wrote to my GP saying they should do that. @sleepy1
  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello every body.

    Anyway the email from this Benefits and works website sent to me a while ago, I would recommend all of us who have not subscribe.

    Understand it is free.

    Please do gives the real inside story.

    Just one final note. Last time signed on. Had this sort of similar scenario in the Email got sent the other day.

    Making it up as they go along.

    I actually asked for a consultation of an employment lawyer last time. Because they put me in this predicament of had to sign on. Even though very ill and passed fit after appeal and man recon. Still said had to sign on. Threats of sanctions and then I said .  Well you tell me what jobs to apply for.  With myself causing harm to the company. I might work for. Making errors, misjudgements and causing a situation that make me look seriously ill in the job.

    Understand this if I am ill on training programmes by a company called Ingeus. Loads of all of us similar situation. Then I asked if you put me into a job and can not do it. Then who is responsible.

    For my illness getting worse. Legality here because no company wants to employ me anyway. Numerous employment opportunities just keep getting sacked or dismissed.

    The amount of time and energy trying to retrain myself takes too long. All of us in this training company fifty plus.

    Add in experience of thirty years ago. So why do it. Had a chat with a guy on the web and chatted to a few people like myself.

    Constantly being reassessed on and off every two years or less for the last twenty years plus.  One says am fit medical assessor then year or two down the road passed unfit.

    Scenario now unfit on ESA Support group.  What I did was to say to JSA got change of circumstances. Consulted my doctor who gave me sick note. Letter saying about my health history.

    Went to another assessment. Letter compiled by support worker and doctors telling the truth. The whole story and now am where I am.

    Do think one of the proposals was for advocate or legal representation on prior to assessment.

    Because people like me are simply getting harassed all the time
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