WCA Wheelchair assessment

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

The WCA Handbook consistently instructs HCPs to use an evidence-based approach, not to leave anything to chance and avoid ambiguity. This is obviously important to a DWP DM who has no formal medical training.

However, in complete contradiction of this basic principle, HCPs are allowed to speculate over ways in which an individual’s mobility might be improved by the use of mobility aids, even though the individual may not have used them before and the individual’s GP has specifically advised against them. P 26 of the WCA Handbook (http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wca-handbook....) states:

a) “......... the HCP should consider whether a person could potentially use a wheelchair regardless of whether or not they have ever used a wheelchair. In considering this issue, as above, upper limb function and cardio respiratory status must be taken into account.” and

b) “A manual wheelchair may be considered any form of wheelchair that is not electrically driven.”

Note the use of the word “potentially”, i.e. they do not need to make a definite recommendation, just suggest there is a possibility without even having to qualify it with “good”, “slight” etc.

If the HCP is of this opinion:

1) Are they required to discuss the proposition openly with the individual during the WCA to make sure nothing relevant is overlooked?

2) Are they required to state the recommendation clearly on the ESA85? Not being medically trained, it would of course not be possible to leave a DWP DM to draw their own conclusion.

3) What (if any) limitations are there on the aids they can consider – specifically, could they consider a powered mobility scooter? If not, why not?

4) If there are limitations, on what are they based? If there are no limitations and individual HCPs can act as they see fit, how do you ensure fairness & consistency?

5) Assessing a patient’s need and suitability for a wheelchair is in itself a highly technical and complex issue requiring specific education and training. (See for example http://healthcare.remploy.co.uk/_assets/.... Furthermore, the NHS website (http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSser...) states: “The people who assess you (for wheelchair use) will all be health professionals, such as GPs, occupational therapists or physiotherapists, and should include a "rehabilitation engineer" (someone who specialises in wheelchairs and seating). There is no one-size-fits-all policy, which means you will be assessed according to your individual needs. The assessment should take into account your physical and social needs, as well as the environment in which you live and work.”

Are all HCPs performing WCAs fully qualified to consider all of these factors relevant to wheelchair use, notably rehabilitation engineering, before making their recommendation? If they are so qualified, why can’t they make the recommendation openly in the best interests of the patient?

Finally,

7) Can a DWP DM decide to award zero points for the mobility descriptor based on what might only be a remote and unproven possibility?

8) What steps must the DM take to eliminate the uncertainty left by the Atos DM?

Please note that none of this information is contained within the WCA handbook.

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'WCA Wheelchair assessment'.

20 days have passed with no information whatsoever.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wc...

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear J Newman

Please see attached response to your FoI request.

Kind regards

DWP Central FoI Team

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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

We have here a document (the WCA Handbook) written by Atos approved by DWP that instructs HCPs to undertake what amounts to a wheelchair assessment

• knowing they are not adequately trained.
• without providing the support stipulated for this assessment
• surreptitiously, without discussion with the claimant
• potentially without all of the relevant information available.

This is followed by a DWP decision making process that can reach a conclusion that uses this assessment again without any prior discussion with the claimant or consideration of the consequences. It does not even declare what it has done, let alone provide the claimant with any help in pursuing the proposal. The ultimate dishonest insult is that Atos/DWP then admit that they are not able to prescribe treatment and deny that they have stated that a wheelchair would be in the person’s best interests when this is EXACTLY what they have done – they have categorically said that the person’s ability to get a job is better with a wheelchair than without one.

Despite the significance of this conclusion there is no other information available with Atos or DWP that explains this series of contradictions or indicates it has ever been considered. This is clearly either a serious dereliction of duty, or a deliberate deception.

It is quite clear what I am trying to establish here and in the light of your response, I would remind you of certain features of FoI legislation as described on the ICO website:

• “The main principle behind freedom of information legislation is that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not to. This is sometimes described as a presumption or assumption in favour of disclosure.”

• “The Act covers all recorded information held by a public authority. It is not limited to official documents and it covers, for example, drafts, emails

It is quite clear what I am trying to establish here and in the light of your response, I would remind you of certain features of FoI legislation as described on the ICO website:

• “The main principle behind freedom of information legislation is that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not to. This is sometimes described as a presumption or assumption in favour of disclosure.”

• “The Act covers all recorded information held by a public authority. It is not limited to official documents and it covers, for example, drafts, emails, notes, recordings of telephone conversations and CCTV recordings.”

• “FOIA applies to official information held in private email accounts (and other media formats) when held on behalf of the public authority”

• Your obligation under the Act to “publish certain information proactively”.

• The principle of “voluntarily giving information . . . . . outside the provisions of the Act”

• "Public authorities should be flexible in offering advice and assistance most appropriate to the circumstances of the applicant. “

As you can see, you are required to do somewhat more than rebuff a request just because it is awkward to answer, although in doing so, you do of course send a very clear message – we (DWP)know what we are doing isn’t right, but we are going to carry on doing it anyway.

Yours sincerely,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear J Newman

Please see attached response to your FoI request.

Kind regards

DWP Central FoI Team

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'WCA Wheelchair assessment'.

Could I ask you check your arithmetic? As you can see from the table below the day 20 deadline is c.o.b. Fri 5th October, so your response on 8th October was in fact late.
Sun 09-Sep
1 Mon 10-Sep
2 Tue 11-Sep
3 Wed 12-Sep
4 Thu 13-Sep
5 Fri 14-Sep
Sat 15-Sep
Sun 16-Sep
6 Mon 17-Sep
7 Tue 18-Sep
8 Wed 19-Sep
9 Thu 20-Sep
10 Fri 21-Sep
Sat 22-Sep
Sun 23-Sep
11 Mon 24-Sep
12 Tue 25-Sep
13 Wed 26-Sep
14 Thu 27-Sep
15 Fri 28-Sep
Sat 29-Sep
Sun 30-Sep
16 Mon 01-Oct
17 Tue 02-Oct
18 Wed 03-Oct
19 Thu 04-Oct
20 Fri 05-Oct

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wc...

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Newman,

Please see attached response to your Internal Review request.

Kind regards,

DWP Central FoI Team

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'WCA Wheelchair assessment'.

Please try to be a bit more helpful and avoid something as trivial as this being referred to the ICO. I am aware of the FOI 20 day calculation and what it includes/excludes as my note of 12th Oct explains - it treats Mon 10/10 as “day 1”, excludes weekends and shows indisputably that “day 20 “ ends at CoB Friday 5/10, so a response on Monday 8/10 is late. Rather than keep saying that black is white, tell me what is wrong with the calculation I have laid out.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wc...

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.

For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.

[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

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Jim Otram left an annotation ()

John. As you know, I share your reading of the relevant provisions of the FoI Act – and so does the ICO, unless it has changed its mind since I discussed this precise issue with it earlier this year.

The date of actual receipt of arequest is day 'nought', irrespective of whether that day is a working day or not – as you have, clearly and correctly, tabulated. And of course, you have the automated response in the correspondence here, which confirms that date of actual receipt.

(It was with this point in mind that I 'jumped on' the DWP's temporary failure to issue receipts a little while back.)

In any event, now that you have elicited the 'lie direct' from the DWP, I do hope you will have the time formally to refer this issue to the ICO, as soon the IR is 'exhausted'.

One day would matter less to us enquirers, I think, If the DWP didn't so often flagrantly and extensively disregard the time limits of the Act, by weeks and indeed months; and in a fashion which is fast becoming the norm rather than the exception.

As it is, the DWP is just adding insult to injury, and it deserves everything we can throw at it.

J Newman left an annotation ()

I completely agree Jim - an unfortunate tactic borne out of nothing other than necessity. If DWP adopted something closer to the spirit of the law, we’d all be more understanding of the odd error. However, honesty over poor policies, poorly thought through, poorly implemented and poorly managed is asking too much!

Jim Otram left an annotation ()

I hope it is worth taking a moment to add that our analysis of the time periods concerned is clearly shared by the admin of this excellent site.

I spent my first few months here checking various 'delayed' reports. I don't do that any more. They know more than the DWP – and no doubt me.

Passers-by: if this site reports that a response is late, then it is late. Not later and not before.

I've just received (yet more!) 'delayed notifications' from the WDTK system. I'm not going to get out my diary. They will be right.

DWP DWP Medical Services Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Newman

Please see your FOI response attached

<<4062 Final V1.pdf>>

Kind regards

Health & Disability Assessments (Operations)/Department for Work and
Pensions/Room 306/Block 31/Norcross/Norcross Lane/Blackpool/FY5 3TA

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B. Adams left an annotation ()

Soon (28th January) this “imaginary test” will be able to be used for many more aids (including guide dogs and false limbs!). This means that soon thousands more people could be judged as fit to work, without being consulted, on the basis of an “imaginary” aid they don’t own or may not be able to use!

It gets worse. Even if returning to work may clearly put you at risk, these changes will mean you can still lose your disability benefit – as long as the assessor believes that trying a new therapy or treatment might reduce that risk. There’s no need for evidence that the treatment will help: you will lose support either way, making it much harder to manage if the treatment doesn’t work as hoped – let alone if it ends up making things worse.
Employment and Support Allowance (Amendment) Regulations 2012

diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/esasos.html

Dear DWP DWP Medical Services Correspondence,

I am aware (thank you) of what the FOIA is “about”, which is why my note to you of 11th October through WDTK was NOT an information request, so this latest response was unnecessary.

What it contains is not my opinion but a summary of the meaning and consequences of the information you have (and have not) provided.

So that you don’t make the same mistake again, a reply to this is not necessary.

Yours sincerely,

J Newman

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'WCA Wheelchair assessment'.

My IRR of 09/11/12 is still outstanding.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wc...

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.

For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.

[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

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References

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DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Please find attached the response to your FoI request

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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

It only becomes a matter of interpretation if you add your own words into the legislation, which I do not think either you, me or anyone else is at liberty to do.

No response necessary.

Yours sincerely,

J Newman

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.

For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.

[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

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References

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