Medical Justice Is Open

posted: 23/12/2010

During Christmas and New Year, (Thursday 23 December to Sunday 2 January, inclusive) Medical Justice staff will provide emergency cover of their phone, fax and email. Medical Justice campaign for decent healthcare for immigration detainees.
 

Contacting Medical Justice  over Christmas and New Year

Referrals

General inquiries
 

Phone      0207 561 7498
Fax           08450 529370

They may not be able to do very much and they ask people to only contact them for help where this cannot wait until they reopen for normal service on 3rd January.

They are very grateful to the doctors and lawyers who have very generously volunteered to support staff and detainees during the holiday period.

Medical Justice

More Disability Tests for Benefits

posted: 08/12/2010

All 3 million people with disabilities and long term conditions such as HIV, including pensioners and children, who are getting Disability Living Allowance will soon be forced to have medical tests.

Ministers announced yesterday plans to end the automatic right to disability living allowance, worth up to £70 a week for care and up to £50 a week for travel needs. This benefit will soon be called the 'personal independence payment'.

Waiting and testing

Claimants will have to wait for a year for the new "personal independence payment" and then face a series of medical and other tests focusing on "an individual's ability to carry out a range of key activities necessary to everyday life".
 

Medical tests already under fire

The existing system of medical tests that are used to judge people claiming sickness and disability benefits (Incapacity Benefit and Employment Support Allowance) is already under review after mounting evidence that people with serious illnesses like HIV are being judged fit to work, when they are not. The tests for the replacement 'personal independence payment' will be based on these.

Many claim that the disadvantages of the medical tests will outweigh any benefits. The medical tests system is often very wrong and very inefficient. 40% of people who appleal the decision win their appeals.

"We have fundamental concerns that the cost of the administration will mean there is no saving here. Claiming these benefits mean at the moment filling out a very long form. I don't think the answer is a whole new process of interviews, which many disabled people may find intimidating," said Guy Parckar of the Leonard Cheshire disability charity.
 

Do what we say

Welfare support will also be conditional on disabled people acting on government instructions to "better manage or improve their situation if appropriate".
 

Behind the changes - cuts of £1 billion from Disability Living Allowance

Charities said they were "deeply concerned" about the proposals – the government plans to save £1bn from DLA in the June budget.
 

"There's no evidence of widespread fraud and no evidence to back up claims that the benefit acts as a barrier to work," said Richard Watts, of the Essex Coalition of Disabled People.
 

Department of Work and Pensions announcement 

Consultation proposals

Consultation on the proposed changes - response deadline 14 February 2011

Source

Work Incapacity Tests – Have Your Say

posted: 09/08/2010

You can have your say in an independent review of how people’s fitness for work is checked by a medical, when claiming benefits for being too ill or disabled to work. People who claim Employment and Support Allowance have medical assessments as part of their claim. These are called ‘Work Capability Assessments’. The fairness of these is now being checked. We know many people with HIV are having serious problems with these.

Also people in Burnley who are on Incapacity Benefit are being put through these medicals as part of a national pilot. Beginning in February, everyone else on Incapacity Benefit will have to have one of these medicals. Many people living with HIV claim these two benefits.
 

Problems lead to review

The fairness of these medical assessments is being checked by an independent national review, led by Professor Malcolm Harrington, who is an occupational health expert. He will produce a report by the end of the year on whether the assessments are fair and transparent.
 

Have your say

You can have your say, based on your experience by Friday 10 September.

They ask a number of questions, but you don’t even need to answer these – simply say what happened to you, and whether you think the system works for people with HIV, or you could give plain and simple answers to questions 2, 3 4, and 6. Most of the questions are aimed at benefits experts.
 

Email your comments

or post your comments to WCA Independent Review Team, Floor 6, Section B, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA.
 

What benefits and disability experts think
Disability charities say the current assessments tests are inflexible, and fail to take into account how long-term conditions (like HIV) can vary from day to day, or from week to week. George House Trust knows there are serious problems with the way these incapacity assessments are done and that people with HIV face a high rate of wrong refusals.
 

Atos Healthcare (who have the government contract for doing Employment Support Allowance assessments) appear to refuse to record basic HIV information like people’s CD4 count, admit their own ignorance about HIV and unwillingness to learn about HIV, don’t refer people with HIV to doctors for a full medical assessment as they should do, refuse to consider the ‘exceptional circumstances’ rules (regulations 29 and 35), and ignore medical reports from HIV doctors.
 

The advisers at Manchester Advice who specialise in HIV have won appeals before they can even say a word. Independent Tribunals have shown they are disturbed and surprised that plain evidence of obvious incapacity for work due to HIV is ignored, and at the failure to follow the rules.

 

How Fair Are Incapacity Tests?

posted: 30/06/2010

The government has just announced an independent review of how they assess the fitness of people claiming benefits for being too ill or disabled to work. People who claim Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit have medical assessments to help decide their claim. Many people living with HIV claim these benefits.

The fairness of medical assessments will be examined in a national review of incapacity assessments, chaired by Professor Malcolm Harrington, an occupational health expert. He will produce a report by the end of the year on whether the assessments are fair and transparent.
 

Burnley first
It has also just been announced that Burnley people, including people living with HIV, will be among the first to transfer from Incapacity Benefit to Employment Support Allowance – and that will involved one of the assessments that are about to be reviewed.
 

Ministers have said they will starting two pilots projects to reassess the 2.6 million existing incapacity benefit claimants using the Employment Support Allowance rules. 1,700 people claiming Incapacity Benefit in Burnley and Aberdeen will start to be reassessed from October 2010, and then this reassessment will be extended nationwide from February 2011.
 

The assessments try to decide whether people claiming the benefits are in fact able to work, or whether they need some support, or whether they cannot work at all and need full sickness benefits for being unable to work at all.
 

Assessments not fair and not working
Disability charities say the current assessments tests are too inflexible, and fail to take into account how long-term conditions (like HIV) can vary from day to day, or from week to week. George House Trust knows there are serious problems with the way these incapacity assessments are done and that people with HIV face a high rate of wrong refusals.
 

Atos Healthcare (who have the government contract for doing Employment Support Allowance assessments) appear to refuse to record basic HIV information like someone’s CD4 count, admit their own HIV ignorance, don’t refer people with HIV to doctors for a full medical assessment as they should, refuse to consider the ‘exceptional circumstances’ rules (regulations 29 and 35), and ignore medical reports from HIV doctors.
 

The advisers at Manchester Advice who specialise in HIV are winning appeals almost before they open their mouths. Independent Tribunals are disturbed and surprised at how plain evidence of obvious incapacity for work due to HIV is ignored, and the failure to follow rules and proper procedures.
 

Disability Discrimination

George House Trust believe this is strong evidence suggesting disability discrimination in the way people with HIV are treated by Atos Healthcare and the Department for Work and Pensions. We are considering formal complaints and other action. 
 

Additional details added to Source 

Healthcare Confidential

posted: 19/04/2010

NAT have produced Confidentiality in healthcare for people living with HIV. Why does medical confidentiality matter for people living with HIV? What can you expect from the NHS? What difference will the introduction of electronic medical records and changes in NHS information sharing mean for people living with HIV?

This report deals with contact tracing of sexual partners, prosecutions for reckless HIV transmission, testing in different settings, and the new NHS medical records IT systems.
 

Reassure, train, monitor

The report recommends the NHS should do more to reassure people with HIV about their confidentiality, including displaying more prominent information about NHS confidentiality policies. It proposes that NHS staff, particularly those providing new HIV testing, should have early training in HIV and confidentiality. NAT recommends that the NHS IT programme must be regularly monitored, including feedback from people living with HIV.
 

NAT will very soon publish a simple confidentiality in healthcare guide for people living with HIV, explaining what rights people living with HIV have, and what to expect from the NHS. NAT will put this out this Spring.

Confidentiality in Healthcare for people living with HIV        pdf 2.6Mb

or as a direct download from NAT