Doctors’ duties in a fractured welfare state

Helen Salisbury wrote:Like many other GPs around the country, I’m spending more and more time writing medical reports to appeal on behalf of patients who have been refused welfare benefit payments. Welfare is a right: we have a welfare state we all pay into through taxation, and we rely on it when we are sick or become unable to work. It’s a mark of a humane society that we look after each other in this way.

B Barr et al wrote:The WCA has been the subject of a great deal of controversy. Nearly 40% of those who have appealed against the initial assessment decision have had this decision overturned,11 and five independent reviews have raised concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of the process. In particular the reviews indicated that the process was impersonal and mechanistic and did not adequately capture the impact of many chronic health conditions.12 The government has however accepted many of the recommendations of these reviews and changed the WCA over time. Many of these changes have particularly focused on the assessment of mental health problems, including adjustments to the mental, intellectual and cognitive descriptors, additional training of decision makers and assessors and the appointment of Mental Function Champions.13