Minutes of the Meeting held in
the Television Interview Room
House of Lords
Tuesday 9 October 2012, 2pm
Present:
Countess of Mar
(Chairman)
Dr Charles Shepherd
(MEA)
Sonia Chowdhury
(AFME)
Tristana Rodriguez
(AFME)
Janice Kent (reMEmber)
Bill Kent (reMEmber)
Jane Colby (Tymes
Trust)
Anita Williams (Tymes
Trust)
Sue Waddle (ME
Research UK)
Christine Harrison (BraME)
Katie
James (AYME)
Mr Jerry Ashworth (Atos
Healthcare)
Dr Barrie McKillop (Atos
Healthcare)
1.
Introduction of Mr Ashworth and
Dr McKillop
The Chairman welcomed
Mr Ashworth and Dr McKillop and invited them to introduce themselves. Mr
Ashworth explained his role and said he was here to listen as much as to
give information. Dr
McKillop explained he was a full-time medical advisor to Atos; his
background was general practice. Part of his role was to look at
possible changes suggested by patients and patient organisations. PIP
was due to start in April 2013 and he would be watching this carefully.
2.
Questions.
Mr Ashworth and Dr
McKillop then took questions which had been previously submitted by
members via e-mail.
Question 1 submitted by Dr Shepherd (MEA). The high rate of success at
appeal clearly indicates that there are serious flaws in the way that
people are being assessed in relation to fitness for work. If Atos was
given a free hand by the DWP regarding time, money etc, what suggestions
would they make to try to ensure that the medical assessment is fair and
effective?
Mr
Ashworth agreed it looked as though something could be improved. Prof
Harrington had commented about getting feedback from appeals. Dr
Shepherd referred to patients bringing to appeals evidence that had not
been seen previously by the DWP or Atos. Dr McKillop commented that they
would encourage claimants to submit such evidence along with the
questionnaire before the original assessment – as well as any other
relevant evidence. Dr Shepherd said that such information was not being
currently chased by DWP or Atos. He added that a GP would probably
charge you for this, and a consultant (if you have one) probably
wouldn’t wish to take it up. Dr McKillop said that they do send out
“further medical evidence requests” to GPs; unfortunately they often do
not respond.
Sue
Waddell (MERUK) asked whether “health care professionals” for WCA
purposes were all doctors. Dr McKillop said “no” – there were also
nurses and physios. These were the only three groups. For certain
conditions (eg some specific central nervous system conditions) it must
be a doctor, and where nurses are involved they must hand over to a
different practitioner if the matter is beyond their competence.
Janice Kent (reMEmber) said she had encountered “damning” comments by
GPs. Unless you had someone like a consultant on your case you could be
in great difficulty. Her personal experience with the Department’s
medical officers under the old system had been good; why couldn’t that
be so now? Dr McKillop said that obtaining the correct sort of
information from GPs might be a problem across the country. Atos had to
determine a person’s functionality as distinct from a diagnostic label,
and the information they were getting was not assisting with this all
the time.
Christine Harrison (Brame) said they had worked a long time on the
provision of evidence but their advice had been rejected. The
Chairman asked if it would help if Christine were to send this to Atos.
Both Dr McKillop and Mr Ashworth asked to see this material.
Question 2 submitted by Jane
Colby (Tymes Trust). It has been reported that Atos has only 11
audiorecorders
to be used at work capability
assessments. Claimants had the right to request a recording; would not a
more realistic number of recorders and actively encouraging their use be
a positive and practical step to obtaining good quality assessments thus
reducing the number of expensive appeals?
Mr
Ashworth said he tended to agree this would be a good step. To date
there has been a limited number of requests for recordings and the DWP
felt that large scale purchase of machines was not a good use of public
money. However it was being trialled around the country, and Atos saw it
as good for them and for patients.
Dr
Shepherd said he and Prof Harrington couldn’t understand why such
expensive machines were being used. Mr Ashworth commented that
recordings were needed for both parties. He assured Dr Shepherd that
anyone wanting a recording would get it. Sonia Chowdhury (AFME) asked
whether patient organisations should recommend their members to ask for
a recording. Mr Ashworth said Atos had no objection although he was not
saying it must be done.
Question 3. Christine Harrison (Brame). Do you allow claimants to read
their assessments before signing them, and what weight do you give to
independent evidence?
(The
Chairman commented that she had tabled a question on this subject)
Dr
McKillop set out the position for DLA. The DWP had removed the
requirement for a signed statement for DLA some time ago. It never had
applied to Incapacity Benefit or ESA. Dr McKillop’s personal approach
was to “never put anything in a report you wouldn’t be prepared to tell
the claimant yourself”. Anyone who wanted a copy of a report could
request one after the event. Their plan for PIP was that the claimant
and their adviser would be able to see what is on the report via the
computer screen as the assessment would be conducted with the claimant
and the health professional side by side.
The
question of room set-up was raised, including the seating of the
claimant in relation to the assessor. Mr Ashworth said that was
controlled by the DWP.
[The Chairman subsequently received the following e-mail from Mr
Ashworth:
“One area that I did check up on this morning were my comments around
room layout. The constraints that we have are less around sitting
opposite each other and more to do with the assessor having ease of exit
from the assessment room should the claimant become ill, or indeed
violent, during the assessment. This means that the assessor has to be
closer to the door than the claimant. I don’t think the DWP requires our
HCPs to sit opposite the claimant – and indeed in many cases HCPs do try
to sit with the claimant at the side of the desk where this is
practical, though as we know there are examples where this is not the
case”.]
Christine commented that in her region (Norfolk) one had to go up two
flights of stairs; the building was not easily accessible. Mr Ashworth
said he knew that building; DWP was looking for better accommodation.
Question 4. Tristana Rodriguez (AFME) referred to AFME’s recent report
Time for Action on the WCA which indicated that ME patients were not
fairly assessed by Atos and received derogatory comments. How could ME
organisations and Atos work together to improve this state of affairs?
Mr
Ashworth said he had now read Time for Action. It was very good “like
gold dust”. He asked if they could see the supporting detail; there was
a need to target individuals who might be at fault. Tristana agreed to
e-mail the information.
Dr
McKillop agreed and added that “labels” should not be placed on
claimants. They did not tell you the claimant’s disability or
functionality. He recognised that in many patients the degree of
functionality varied from one time to another, and cited epilepsy as an
extreme example of variability. The Chairman asked whether people with a
serious complaint could make it before going to appeal. Both Mr Ashworth
and Dr McKillop confirmed this. The Chairman instructed members to take
note and let their members know. Dr McKillop added that the benefit
decision that is made, and the conduct of the healthcare professional
during the assessment, are separate considerations. If a claimant feels
that they have not been treated well during an assessment they have a
right to complain, whatever the outcome of the benefit claim. If a
claimant wishes to complain about the conduct of the healthcare
professional they do not need to wait for the benefit decision before
doing so.
Janice Kent commented that with conditions like epilepsy and asthma
there was often a “pre-warning” that the patient was about to suffer an
episode but that was not the case with ME. Mr Ashworth and Dr McKillop
agreed. Sue Waddell referred to reports of people (not just ME patients)
needing counselling after Atos interviews. Often ME patients hadn’t the
physical or mental ability to make a complaint or appeal. Dr McKillop
commented that a complaint can be made by another person on behalf of
the claimant, and it need not be written; it could be by telephone and
does not have to contain a lot of information.
Sue
Waddell asked whether, in the event of no recording equipment being
available, an interview could be deferred until it became available. Mr
Ashworth said they could not defer indefinitely; people had the right to
ask for recording but they could not guarantee it in every case. The
possibility of a claimant providing their own recording equipment was
being considered but he could not forecast the outcome at this stage.
Dr
Shepherd enquired about the training and experience of assessors who
might have incorrect ideas about the illness. Also a number, he
believed, were from abroad and might not be familiar with ME. The MEA
and other ME organisations were willing to provide input to training. Mr
Ashworth and Dr McKillop outlined the training programme; it could take
up to 24 days, depending upon the type of practitioner being trained. It
was pretty intensive but concentrated on functionality rather than
diagnosis. Their qualifications showed they had the diagnostic
capability already. They agreed with Dr Shepherd that fluctuating
conditions ought to be covered. Jane Colby said that when she was
severely ill she had been assessed as able to cook her own meals when
she could not lift a saucepan. What if someone so assessed were to have
an accident? Who could be held liable? Mr Ashworth suggested questions
like this should be posed at the interview, and it showed the value of
bringing a friend or companion to the interview who could ask questions
like “is that the position every day?”
The
Chairman referred to the NICE Guidance which said that if you have ME
then you have a functional impairment. Dr McKillop commented that the
NICE Guidance was more to do with diagnosis and treatment than with
functionality. The Chairman said she would table some questions on this
subject.
Question 5. Tristana (on behalf of S Knowles) asked if Atos would agree
that they and the DWP would earn greater respect from ME patients if
they would admit that they are not yet in a position to make balanced
judgements about the complexity of ME, there being “no point-by point
assessable criteria” for their disability.
Dr
McKillop agreed that ME was a complex condition
but if we were looking at functionality and not diagnosis, then
he did not think ME patients were at a disadvantage compared with other
patients. The key was getting the assessment itself right for each
individual.
Question 6 , sent in by Mr J Newman, was fairly lengthy. It asked about
the training of health care professionals who assess patients using
wheelchairs – or who might use a wheelchair had their own doctor not
advised against it.
Dr
McKillop explained that Incapacity Benefit assessed walking ability but
now, in line with ESA legislation which considers broader ability to
mobilise, their assessors are trained to take into account the use of
aids such as wheelchairs. The Chairman asked for confirmation that those
unable to walk were not told by Atos that they must use a wheelchair. Dr
McKillop confirmed that they were not. There were a number of reasons
why a wheelchair might not be suitable – for example the patient might
be unable to use their hands to propel one. The Chairman asked whether
the instructions to assessors on this subject needed to be clarified. Dr
Shepherd commented that Professor Harrington’s committee had said
assessment should be based only on what
claimants could do using aids such as wheelchairs which they
normally use and had recommended clear guidance on this subject.
The Chairman then announced that the time allotted for the meeting had
expired. She thanked Mr Ashworth and Dr McKillop for answering the
questions and said they had been very open. They confirmed that
Forward-ME could keep in touch with them and that they would be
delighted to come to another meeting in, say, six months’ time.
The Chairman added that as there had been no time for the normal
business of the meeting she would arrange another in November.
(Since confirmed as Tuesday 13 November 2.00 to 3.30pm).
The meeting closed at 3.30pm.