Have your say on health and disability assessments

tomtontom

Ames wrote: »

It needs a 'competitive market'? Really?

It's a fair point, but only if they are measured on accurate and timely outcomes, not cost.

The problem is that, whilst the select committee do look at the claimant experience, the commissioning body does not

not_a_new_user

Having briefly read the report, i don't see any referral to treating claimants as human beings. Targets, money and budgets. Somewhere along the way, the Government, the DWP, Contractors and Assessors, have forgotten (most?) claimants are real people with often seriously challenging illnesses and conditions.

As for the Disability Assessment Experience?

I'm honestly still recovering from the Disability Assessment Experience, some time later.


In short - An intense exam. 80 minutes of non stop questions. A barrage of questions with a cold, clinical and uncaring assessor. No let up, despite me becoming very distressed. A physical test, which i know was the wrong test for one of my conditions. You are told to take all your medication, letters etc. Don't bother wasting your time because they won't look at it. They are not interested. You are a number on a computer screen, (and probably a target.) A computer exercise akin to a call centre. The final parting question as you leave - where are you going now? Answer - i'm going home to recover, to bed, (despite repeatedly sending Dr's letters requesting a home visit.) And i'm still recovering, now. I felt like i had been flattened by a steamroller. 80 minutes is a long time for Colditz style questioning of someone who is ill. That's what the Disability Assessment Experience feels like. I can't go through it again, although i know it's fairly standard procedure to have to appeal.




My overall thoughts today are, I wonder how they would have felt if it was their relative on the receiving end of my customer, sorry, claimant, Experience.

I'm sure they would have been very upset or complained, at the very least.


I hope my assessor is fortunate enough, never to need to Experience this process.


I now await the decision from the DWP.


It's degrading to have to be in this position. It's degrading to be ill or disabled.

not_a_new_user

As an after thought. Someone said i should have taken my MP with me. What a brilliant idea. Too late for me, but if anyone has an empathetic MP regarding disabled rights? There's food for thought. Obviously don't say you have your MP with you. But maybe that's one way of first hand Disabled Assessment Experiences truly being experienced.

nannytone_2

i doubt very much if any MP would attend a wca, no matter how empathetic they are.
it would set a precedent and they would have everyone demanding they attend

not_a_new_user

nannytone wrote: »

i doubt very much if any MP would attend a wca, no matter how empathetic they are.
it would set a precedent and they would have everyone demanding they attend

I'm not talking about WCA's here. I'm talking about the Disability Assessment Experience and more specifically, the manner in which they are administered.

Who carries out the medical assessment?
The majority of health professionals carrying out PIP medicals are physiotherapists with very little knowledge of mental health issues, learning difficulties or more complex physical conditions. There are also some occupational therapists, nurses and, very occasionally, doctors doing assessments.

All health professionals receive around a week’s training in how to carry out assessments, but much of this is about how to use the computer software and how the points system for PIP works.

What happens at the assessment?

Although the DWP claim that PIP medicals are not at all like the work capability assessments for employment and support allowance (ESA), they do seem to be remarkably similar, including the fact that they are computer led.

Whilst i accept you have to have some sort of system in place for these assessments, i believe it's fundamentally flawed. And no, i'm not sleeping well due to additional stress. But i can operate a computer? Which, i might add, can take me several hours to make a post, which is considerably longer than it would take the "average" person?

FBaby

No contractor will ever do a good job when the decision as to whether someone should be entitled to money is based on a totally subjective survey like form?

However, contractors' performance still does not meet claimants', the Department's and taxpayers' expectations.

And that will never happen because claimants would like assessments to be solely (or just about) based on their own personal account, whilst tax payers would like assessments to be based solely on medical evidence.

Opening the gates to benefits just because someone claims they can't cook for themselves or need prompting to take their medication, that they can't walk a few yards without extreme pain etc... is totally frivolous, and just being on these forums makes it clear how well rehearsed people have become at making sure to say the right things, things that they can easily have told their GP before hand. Having spent years on these forums, I am highly confident that despite being in perfect health, I could get through the hurdle of going through the system and successfully PIP and ESA on the basis of Mental Health.

On the opposite spectrum, you have genuine vulnerable people who are truly in need of support who don't get it because they don't know how to put forward their disability in a way that will mean they can tick the right boxes that will open the door to disability benefits.

The only way the system will get better is when all benefits become mean tested for a start and assessments become about evidence of financial need. I would much prefer my taxes to go to someone who might not on paper be as disabled as another person who is in genuine need of financial help, than someone who can tick the right boxes, but really doesn't need the money (and so happily give it all to away to a sibling, oops that's another thread).

nannytone_2

not_a_new_user wrote: »

I'm not talking about WCA's here. I'm talking about the Disability Assessment Experience and more specifically, the manner in which they are administered.

although the assessment for ESA and PIP differ, they are the same in the way they are carried out.
they are both face to face assessments with a health care provider.

no MP is ever going to accompany their constituents to either of these assessments.

they may however, get their office staff to chase up a claim that is taking too long or add their name to an appeal for a wrong decision

tomtontom

nannytone wrote: »

although the assessment for ESA and PIP differ, they are the same in the way they are carried out.
they are both face to face assessments with a health care provider.

no MP is ever going to accompany their constituents to either of these assessments.

they may however, get their office staff to chase up a claim that is taking too long or add their name to an appeal for a wrong decision

not a new user's posts seem *very* familiar, exaggerated and contradictory. I think our old friend may be back

missbiggles1

tomtontom wrote: »

not a new user's posts seem *very* familiar, exaggerated and contradictory. I think our old friend may be back

Live and let live.;)

Lanzarote1938

not_a_new_user wrote: »

Whilst i accept you have to have some sort of system in place for these assessments, i believe it's fundamentally flawed. And no, i'm not sleeping well due to additional stress. But i can operate a computer? Which, i might add, can take me several hours to make a post, which is considerably longer than it would take the "average" person?

Those who somehow do not 'pass' the assessment i.e get a result favourable to the claimant will always consider the process to be flawed.