Doctors call for end to work capability assessments

DOCTORS HAVE demanded that controversial government tests to determine someone’s fitness to work are scrapped.

At the Royal College of General Practitioners’ annual conference in Liverpool, doctors said work capability assessments, which decide whether a claimant is physically or mentally capable of work, can cause harm to vulnerable patients.

The tests are carried out by French firm Atos but do not include a full medical examination. Around 40% of all those claimants who are told they no longer qualify for disability benefits win them back on appeal.

Dr Andrew Holden, a GP from Petersfield in Hampshire, told the conference the computer-based system is unable to differentiate between people who genuinely need to be on incapacity benef it and those who do not.

“Since the system was introduced in 2008 people with terminal cancer have been found fit to work, people with mental health problems have complained their condition is not taken seriously and people with complex illnesses say that the tick-box system is not able to cope with the nuances of their problems,” he said.

“The computer-based assessments are carried out by a healthcare professional but one not necessarily trained in the field of the patient’s disability, which is particularly important when it comes to mental health issues.”

Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the BMA’S Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said: “These assessments can have a devastating effect on our patients’ mental and physical health.

“There has been a dramatic increase in th numbers being assessed as fit to work and a massive number of appeals have been made against these decisions.

“The frequency of successful appeals seems to us to demonstrate the mechanism’s shortcomings.”

Jeanette Campbell of Citizens Advice Scotland said: “We don’t argue with the principle that people should be helped off benefits and into work where they can, but the point is that these tests are totally failing to assess people accurately.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said reforms of the test are already under way.

“We’re absolutely committed to the reassessment of people on incapacity benefit and helping those who are fit to move back into work. Under the old system too many lives were written off,” she said.

“The work capability assessment introduced in 2008 was not fit for purpose, which is why we are implementing all the recommendations made by our independent reviewer to make this a better and fairer process.”