Disability Assessment Firms Quizzed

Bosses from the company tasked with carrying out assessments as part of controversial disability reforms are to be quizzed by MSPs.

Members of Holyrood's Welfare Reform Committee will question senior figures from Atos and its subcontractor Salus.

The session comes after research for the committee found about 120,000 people in Scotland would lose an estimated £2,600 a year as a result of UK Government plans to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Committee convener Michael McMahon said concerns had been raised about the role played by Atos and its subcontractor, Salus, in their carrying out of assessments for the new PIP scheme''.

The Labour MSP added: Making the transition from DLA to PIP is clearly a worrying time for many vulnerable claimants and we will be asking questions of the process involved and problems experienced.

Dr Barrie McKillop, the clinical director of Atos Healthcare, and David Haley, the client executive for PIP, will be questioned by MSPs, along with Salus general manager Mark Kennedy.

In a submission to MSPs, Atos said it had conducted almost 93,000 assessments for people living in Scotland.

It added: Claimants in Scotland are currently taking approximately four weeks to go through the assessment process (which includes the initial review, assessment and report submission). This compares to approximately 14 weeks to go through the assessment process in Scotland this time last year.''

Assessments are carried out by health professionals such as nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and paramedics, with Atos insisting: Compassion, sensitivity and commitment to delivering the best possible service to claimants is critical.

The role of the HP (health professional) is not to diagnose an individual's condition or conditions. It is to understand how the person manages the conditions that they have and how it affects them on a day-to-day basis. This information forms the basis of the report that the HP provides to the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions).''

The company continued: We always consider how we can do things differently and have been implementing innovative improvements to the service we deliver to PIP claimants.

With the claimant in mind, we're currently trialling a number of innovative initiatives to make their journey through the PIP process as positive as possible.''

This includes trialling the use of video technology for assessments, which could help people in more remote parts of Scotland be assessed more quickly.