"Following Dennis Skinner's outburst at PMQs yesterday, it would behove many more people, not just we volunteers trying to assist the sick and disabled to claim benefits, to properly understand who is really responsible for the work capability assessment debacle. The system, introduced under Labour, was designed by the Department for Work and Pensions, not Atos. The assessment criteria were set by the DWP, not Atos. The assessment process was set by the DWP, not Atos. Decisions on benefits and awards are made by the DWP, not Atos, which only supplies a medical report to the DWP decision-makers handling the case. It is at the DWP that the travesties and injustices are perpetrated - to comply with targeting from the upper echelons and the Treasury.
Atos has failed by providing insufficient properly qualified medical professionals to carry out the assessments; in not ensuring claimants are seen, where necessary, by appropriately qualified staff, such as mental health professionals; and in not ensuring additional medical information is taken fully into account. Because the claimants only ever see an Atos employee, their criticism is directed there. While much of that can be justified, it is the DWP overseeing the system which really needs to be called to account.
Bill Graham
Wellington, Shropshire"
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/16/blame-benefit-system-problemsIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
