Work Capability Assessments

Question

Asked by Lord Bradley

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the qualifications of staff undertaking the work capability assessment for mental health conditions.[HL10342]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): All doctors working for Atos Healthcare must be registered with the General Medical Council; all nurses with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and all physiotherapists with the Health Professions Council.

All Atos healthcare professionals must have a minimum of three years broad-based clinical post-registration experience.

In individual cases, solely at the discretion of the DWP chief medical adviser, the requirement that healthcare professionals must have a minimum of three years post registration experience may be waived.

There is no requirement for healthcare professionals to have postgraduate mental health qualifications in addition to their primary qualifications.

However, in response to one of Professor Harrington's recommendations in his first review, Atos have introduced mental function champions into their assessment centres to spread best practice in the assessment of people with conditions that affect mental, cognitive and intellectual function. Mental function champions are required to have post qualification clinical experience in the field of mental health.