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The Sunday Express, 5 February 2006 |
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MOST people claiming they are too sick to work are handed cash without undergoing a proper medical examination. |
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They can get GBP 57-a-week incapacity benefit simply by completing the necessary paperwork - even though they could be lying about their condition. |
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Two-thirds of last year's 340,000 new claimants were able to get the handout without seeing a Department of Work and Pensions medical examining practitioner. |
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And only 40 per cent of the 1.5 million who have been claiming Incapacity Benefit for more than five years since Labour came to power in 1997 have undergone a proper medical assessment. The rest were dealt with purely through the forms they had filled in, with assessors relying on the own accounts of their poor health and the factual detail on diagnosis and treatment provided by GPs. |
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The scandal has been blamed on cost-cutting measures and attempts to speed up the throughput of claimants, who can claim a higher rate of GBP 76.45 after being on the benefit for a year. |
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The Government has pledged to cut the 2.7 million invalidity claimants by a million but critics say the plans fail to tackle the vital issue of medical assessments. |
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Last night Dr John Canning, a British Medical Association expert on Incapacity Benefit, warned: "The system is open to abuse by people who could be working. |
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"In the majority of cases there should be a proper face-to-face assessment by an examining medical practitioner. |
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"I suspect this doesn't happen due to the cost of the examinations and the need to push people through the system quickly." |
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Dr Peter Holden, who spent 11 years as a medical examiner for the Department of Work and Pensions, is in no doubt that loopholes are regularly exploited. |
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He said: "Far too often, far too many people are conning the system. It's a huge financial loss to the taxpayer. |
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"There are some real Laurence Oliviers out there who can give a fantastic performance of suffering from back pain. But the only way of really providing proper evidence is by commissioning body scans which examiners are prohibited from doing because of costs." |
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The medical assessments that do take place are currently carried out by Atos Origin under a GBP 500 million contract with the DWP. |
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But doctors working for Atos say they are expected to examine and write a full report on each claimant in just over half an hour, even though experts recommend at least an hour is needed for a thorough examination. |
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And Shadow Welfare Reform Minister David Ruffley has now revealed there is a shortage of doctors to carry out the examinations. |
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Mr Ruffley said last night: "It is pathetically inadequate that there are only 176 full-time doctors who are employed to do this work. We need good quality medical examinations by doctors who can help the recipient get the necessary help to get them back to work."
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The system is also a minefield for GPs dealing with patients who claim they are unfit for work. |
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Dr Rosemary Leonard, who writes for the Sunday Express S magazine, said most sick notes are for ailments which genuinely require time off, such as major surgery, pneumonia or bereavement. |
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She also revealed that a surprising number of conscientious patients want to go to work against their doctor's advice, and refuse sick notes. |
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But she explained: "The problem - not only for doctors, but also for the Government trying to reduce the benefits bill - is people with rather vague complaints such as stress and back pain. |
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"Most back pain is caused by strained muscles and ligaments, and despite modern technology there is no test that can show a medic exactly what is going on. |
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"I just have to rely on patients' judgement as to how much pain they are in. And the same goes for headaches, anxiety, mild depression, period pains the list goes on and on. |
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"Most requests are completely genuine, but every doctor knows there are quite a few which aren't, but how on Earth are we to judge?" |
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And Dr Leonard said trying to take a tough line can cause a nightmare for a conscientious family doctor. |
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She described how a GP friend of hers suffered when she took action over a patient who said he was suffering such bad sciatica he could hardly walk. |
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She explained: "He said he couldn't get to work and he hobbled dramatically into the surgery every time he came in for his sick note, which he needed to claim sick pay. |
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"Then one day when she was out on her visits, the doctor saw the patient running into a pub. A few days later she again saw him - walking quite normally into the betting shop. |
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"Several of the surgery reception staff also confirmed he was regularly seen walking or running around the area without difficulty. But suggesting to him when he next hobbled to the surgery that he might do some light work did not go down well. |
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"She found herself on the receiving end of a formal complaint to the General Medical Council for being unsympathetic, and not acting in his best interests. |
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"It took two years for the GMC to throw out the case, during which she had to spend hours with a solicitor dealing with the case. She lost weight and suffered endless sleepless nights of worry." |
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Dr Leonard added: "Get it wrong, and you could send someone with anxiety and stress over the edge, into the depths of despair, and quite rightly, end up with a nasty letter saying how unsympathetic you are. It is no wonder that doctors err on the side of caution. |
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"And then there are those who are stuck in the benefits trap, who would like to get back to work, but can't find anything to do." |
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Last night the DWP insisted the scrutiny of application forms was "no less rigorous" than a medical examination. |
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A spokeswoman said: "The DWP calls people in for examination when the evidence supplied by the claimant and GP is insufficient to complete the claim." |
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