A recent report throws into sharp focus the terrible conditions faced each day by thousands of people claiming benefits in Britain. “Unfit for Purpose”, published by the Scottish Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB), examines the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) with new medical testing criteria introduced in November 2008 by the Labour government...
Macmillan Cancer Support, a leading cancer charity working with people suffering from the disease, argues that people with a terminal illness should automatically be fast-tracked through the ESA. Yet they have reports of patients who are receiving intensive chemotherapy being ordered to attend Work Capability Assessments and Work Focussed Interviews.
The CAB reports on a woman in her 50s from South East England with cancer of the face who applied for ESA: “She was called for a work capability assessment before her treatment began. In the assessment she scored six points and was found fit to work, although the medical examiner’s report stated that a return to work could only be considered after six months. Two weeks later she began oxygen therapy for five hours a day, four days a week. After this she was due to undergo surgery before further post-operative oxygen therapy”.
Under the previous rules, those claimants suffering from particular medical conditions could be exempted from attending a Personal Capability Assessment (PCA), as it was then called, if the claimant’s doctor could confirm the patient’s condition to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/bene-j24.shtmlthe new "hurry up & die" assistance programme...
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