Twelve doctors employed by the firm that is paid £100m a year to assess people claiming disability benefit are under investigation by the General Medical Council over allegations of improper conduct. The doctors, who work for Atos Healthcare, a French-owned company recently criticised by MPs for its practices, face being struck off if they are found not to have put the care of patients first.
The Observer has found that seven of the doctors have been under investigation for more than seven months. The other five were placed under investigation this year following complaints about their conduct.
It is understood that the majority of allegations concern the treatment of vulnerable people when the government's controversial "work capability assessments" were carried out, but the GMC refused to comment on individual cases. The development will add to fears over the pace and radical agenda behind the government's welfare-to-work policy, which led to protests in Westminster in May by thousands of disabled people. It will also raise concerns about ministers' commitment to Atos Healthcare, which was recently granted a three-year extension on its contract.
The government has repeatedly publicised figures showing that the "vast majority" of claimants for employment support allowance (ESA), which has replaced incapacity benefit, are fit for work. But four out of 10 of those who appealed the decision by Atos - whose parent company is run by a former French finance minister, Thierry Breton - to deny them benefits are successful on appeal, a process that costs the taxpayer £50m a year.
Last month Atos, whose staff assess around 11,000 benefit claimants a week, was savaged by the cross-party work and pensions select committee after it found that many people had "not received the level of service from Atos which they can reasonably expect".
MPs further claimed that a combination of the company's conduct and the test itself had prompted "fear and anxiety among vulnerable people".
One GP who attended an Atos recruitment fair told the Observer she feared doctors could become "agents of the state" who were deprofessionalised by involvement in a system that did not make patient care its first concern.
Campaigners for the disabled seized upon the development, claiming the government needed to go back to the drawing board. Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the charity Scope, said: "If the government wants to get disabled people off benefits and into work then it needs to get its assessment right. The test should be the first step on the road to employment. But disabled people's confidence in the work capability assessment is extremely low – and today's news will send it to rock bottom.
"The test is massively flawed. Now it appears that it is being carried out by a large number of doctors who are under serious investigation."
Neil Bateman, a solicitor who handles ESA appeals, said on two occasions his clients had been successful because, among other reasons, the doctor assessing them had qualified in Romania and registered with the GMC but had not been licensed to practise in Britain.
Citizens Advice told the Observer it was compiling a dossier showing the problems being faced by those assessed by Atos staff, who can be nurses or physiotherapists in cases where there are no potential neurological disorders. It said it regularly found inaccuracies in many of the medical reports featured in ESA appeal papers that could affect people's chances of receiving benefits. It also found a lack of consideration for those being assessed.
A spokesman said a barrister who was unable to practise because of cancer and lymphoma had described the assessment as being like an "interrogation" led by a computer. The assessor moved the client's legs, which caused her great pain, even though the client had warned that this would happen. In another case a claimant with learning difficulties who went for an assessment was found fit for work because he had found his way to the assessment centre on his own.
When asked about this by Citizens Advice, he reluctantly explained that he had got up very early, taken the bus to the town centre, and then kept asking passersby for directions. He couldn't follow their instructions, so he would show the letter, walk in the direction they pointed, then ask again until he arrived.
Two doctors employed by Atos have already been taken by the GMC to an independent panel for adjudication on their fitness to practise. Dr Alexandros Mallios, who it was claimed had not carried out a proper examination of his patient during an assessment, was cleared by the panel last October. Dr Usen Samuel Ikidde, who qualified in Nigeria, was given a formal warning in January, to lay on his records for five years, after he was found to have worked for Atos while on sick leave from an accident and emergency department.
An Atos spokesman said: "Atos Healthcare is committed to providing a high-quality, professional service and requires these standards of all its employees. While we cannot comment on individual cases, any complaint made about an employee is taken extremely seriously.
"In addition to our own rigorous internal investigations we will co-operate with any external investigation to ensure all facts are properly established and the appropriate action taken."
The Labour government introduced work capability assessments in 2008 when it replaced incapacity benefit and income support for new claimants with employment and support allowance. The government has accelerated the changes and started retesting all 1.5 million incapacity benefit claimants to see whether they are eligible for the new benefit.
A GMC spokesman said: "We can and do take action to remove or restrict a doctor's right to practise if there have been serious failures to meet our standards."
General Medical Council (GMC) - Concerns about doctors (Making a complaint). ATOS GMC Hearing decisions enter ATOS in the Keywords.
Like many I am concerned that there may be many people who have been assessed by these 12 doctors and what happens to the credibility of there assessment? Are they going to be be re-reviewed?
If you are facing a Work Capability Assessment than ask your medical professional assessing you for there Name and any professional membership they have and/or registration number. There should be no problem with this information being given to you.
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Atos forced to investigate after employee’s ‘parasites’ comment on website
Two employees of the company that carries out the controversial “fitness for work” tests for the government have been caught making offensive comments about their disabled customers on a social networking website.
Atos Healthcare, the company that conducts the work capability assessments (WCA) on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), has launched an investigation.
The comments – posted on Facebook – were spotted by activists opposed to government efforts to cut the number of disabled people on out-of-work disability benefits by forcing them through the much-criticised WCA, which tests eligibility for the new employment and support allowance (ESA).
The incidents are particularly significant because disabled people forced to undergo the assessments have repeatedly complained about the attitude of Atos staff.
One of the two Atos staff members now being investigated says on his Facebook page that he is an administrator at one of the company’s medical examination centres.
Describing his job, he says he does “everything office-wise and having to put up with parasitic wankers at the same time”.
The other staff member caught out is a nurse, who says on her Facebook page that she carries out WCAs for Atos.
She has repeatedly posted messages that refer to disabled people who attend her assessment centre as “down and outs”.
On one occasion, she writes: “Thank god it’s Friday last day in this god forsaken place with the down and outs!”
In another post, she says: “Oh god another day here with the down and outs. Arggggg! Help me.”
Disabled activist John McArdle, co-founder of Black Triangle, a group set up to campaign against the unfair use of the WCA to reclassify disabled people as “fit for work”, said the behaviour of the two Atos employees demonstrated that the company’s culture was one of a “systematic violation of the human rights of disabled people”.
He said doctors and nurses working for Atos were “just there to lend this company a veneer of credibility”.
He added: “It is the culture of a conveyor-belt in a factory, absolutely without any humanity. This is the dehumanisation of care and concern for one another.”
An Atos Healthcare spokeswoman said: “Atos Healthcare is investigating the claims made about inappropriate comments written by a couple of its employees on a social media website.
“Atos Healthcare is committed to providing a high quality, professional service to the DWP and expects the same of all its employees. Where it is found that these standards are not adhered to, this is taken very seriously and appropriate disciplinary action taken.”
A DWP spokeswoman added: “We take any allegation of inappropriate conduct amongst our subcontractors very seriously and expect Atos Healthcare to investigate this matter thoroughly.”
A complaint about the nurse’s comments has also been lodged with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats are to debate a motion calling for major changes to the WCA, at their party conference in Birmingham next month.
The motion has been proposed by Liberal Youth (LY), the party’s youth and student wing. The motion, together with a subsequent amendment also backed by LY, calls on the coalition to improve the assessment and ensure it is “less stressful”.
The amended motion also calls on the government to scrap its proposed “arbitrary” time limit on how long disabled people can claim the “contributory” form of ESA – just a year for those in the “work-related activity group” – a measure that has been subjected to heavy criticism from many disabled campaigners.
The motion also notes that 70 per cent of those who appeal after having their ESA claims rejected have that decision overturned, although this figure is lower for those who do not have expert representation at the tribunal. It calls for all claimants to have “adequate support and legal representation” for their appeals.
http://www.dls.org.uk/Rights/News/2011/august/4.html