Dear Ms Doyle-Price,
I am writing to you to share this
blog posting from The Huffington Post website regarding the MPCA learning
exercise I invited you to attend. As you
can see from the piece by Alan Cairns that I have reproduced below, it seems
that the learning exercise opened the eyes of a number of the MPs who had the
compassion to take part.
“MPs Undergo Work Capability Assessments
Posted: 12/09/2013 14:40
Mental health charity Rethink
challenged MPs to undergo mock Work Capability Assessments (WCA) on Wednesday,
dubbed MP Capability Assessments (MPCA). The charity claims the real-life
assessments, which determine whether or not someone continues to receive
Employment and Support Allowance, are unfair to people with mental health
problems.
The event, held at Portcullis House,
gave 34 MPs - including Caroline Lucas (pictured), Andy Slaughter, Kevan Jones and Kate
Green - a first-hand experience of the controversial assessments provided by
Atos.
Great to have @CarolineLucas
backing our #UnfairWCA
campaign. See agrees with dick! pic.twitter.com/8Z06AKa2PD
'I agree with Dick'
The MPCAs were held as part of
Rethink's wider mental health campaign 'I agree with Dick', named after
campaigner and carer Dick Acworth, who initiated a petition calling for
re-assessments for people with mental health issues to stop until the system is
overhauled. The petition currently has 13,000 signatures, towards a target of
15,000.
So I failed my @Rethink_ MP #WCA test. Confusing questions and felt rushed. I'm
certainly supporting the Unfair WCA Campaign
The assessments were designed to be
as close as possible to the real thing, so MPs could get a tangible
appreciation of what many of their constituents’ experience. MP Kate Green, who
underwent the assessment, said:
"The MPs' WCA was an eye-opener
- I felt powerless, rushed and confused. It brought home to me how it must feel
to those going through it for real. Of course it's right we should do all we
can to enable those with mental health problems to contribute fully in the
workplace and to have a proper test in place to assess if they're able to. But
this test is fundamentally broken and DWP should go back to the drawing
board."
After undergoing their MPCA, MPs
spoke directly with Acworth about why the WCA is unfair, and were asked to join
the pledge to ask government to stop using WCA for mental health assessments
until the system is fixed.
A backlog of blunders
The Work Capability Assessment has
been plagued by controversy since its introduction in 2008 and is a continual
headache for the DWP. 465,000 complaints were received about the Work
Capability Assessment in 2012/2013, and new judges and tribunal staff have had
to be hired to tackle the overwhelming stack of outstanding cases.
Critics say the test is especially
unfair on those with mental health issues. According to Rethink, the main issues are: how medical evidence is
collected, focus on self-representation, a lack of experience and training
amongst WCA assessors and the frequency of reassessment. They claim those with
mental health issues may find it difficult to collect the relevant documents and
to articulate their problems. Assessors aren't necessarily trained in or
sufficiently aware of the nature of mental health issues, and reassessments as
often as every six months can cause stress and anxiety that may worsen a
condition.
Mental health issues also fluctuate,
meaning someone may be assessed on a day where they seem fit for work, but
would fail the test a week later.
Growing awareness
The MPCA comes at a time when
awareness of mental health has been growing, particularly in Westminster. A
recent ONS survey revealed 20% of the UK population suffer from anxiety or
depression, and MPs are no different. According to estimated data from mental
health specialists Clinical Partners, out of 650 MPs in parliament, twelve are likely to be suffering
from burnout and sixty-four from depression.
Last year saw a seminal Commons
debate on mental health where four MPs revealed their own struggles with
conditions such as depression and OCD, including Charles Walker, who was
instrumental in passing the subsequent Mental Health (Discrimination) (No 2)
Act.
Walker, chair of the all-party
parliamentary group on mental health, has since thrown down the gauntlet to all parties to make a
"demonstrable commitment" to mental health in the run-up
to the 2015 general election. The group will conduct a year-long enquiry into
achieving a "parity of esteem" between mental and physical healthcare
from October - during which the WCA will surely come under the microscope.”
You were one of 616 MPs who decided
that you would not attend or schedule another date for your MPCA due to your
‘work’ commitments on the date set for your assessment. As such, you have not only robbed yourself of
a vote winning publicity stunt but you have also shown that you do not wish to
put yourself in the place of one of the people being victimised by the Government of which you are a minor part for even a
few minutes to see how their lives are being affected by a discriminatory
policy.
Of course, you are in good company
with so many others sharing your disdain for the people you are supposed to
represent in Parliament and your attitude to those people will not go unnoticed
in the run-up to the next General Election.
Just out of interest, I would like
you to answer this question – how can you possibly consider yourself a representative
of the people of your Thurrock constituency when you seem to possess absolutely
no interest in wanting to represent any views other than that of your party?
As always, I look forward to your
reply.
Regards,
Myles Cook
As always, I will post her response (if I get one) right here on this blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment