Ex-Atos Nurse Tells Her Story

Below is the account of a caller to LBC 97.3fm on 27/7/13 to Petrie Hosken.

From LBC - "A caller who claims to be a former nurse at ATOS - the company tasked with assessing people for Disability Living Allowance* by the government - gives Petrie Hosken an uncomfortable insight into how assessments are made."

listen to ‘Ex-ATOS Nurse 'Sally' Tells Her Story’ on Audioboo

Nurse: Worst position I ever worked in - more like factory work. Had daily quotas of 26 bundles of files - 18 files of clients to a bundle. I worked on my own on the computer. Results were quantified before started - results were what they predicted.
Nurse: Questioned why can't DWP employ its own nurses & doctors?
Doctors employed by Atos are 95% foreign doctors, who cannot get work in NHS. Others are retired/ semi retired GPs. All doctors are very well paid. Doctors are not allowed to examine patients. Shambolic.
Petrie: Are you surprised by number of Appeals?
Nurse : Not surprised. The result is told to you before you look at the files. Everything is predetermined
Petrie: Are you encouraged to turn clients away from the benefits system?
Nurse: Nurses did the file work - did not meet the patients. Told how many had to be turned down.
If not you had a kind of disciplinary. The doctors did not examine the patients. Nurses and doctors are workers with no regard to their clinical skills. You belong to Atos, who treat their staff horrendously.
Petrie: This is appalling. You have to have Targets?
Nurse: Absolutely
Petrie: You turn people away despite their health conditions?
Nurse: uh huh
Petrie: How does it make you feel?
Nurse: Awful ( She left after 9 months working for Atos, having been a nurse for 30 years)
It is the most unsatisfying job. Joined to make a difference.
Petrie: So decent people leave - replaced by others who need a job and don't have your moral compass?
Nurse: I was told by Deputy Director at the Atos centre, who is a doctor " Sally if you want to work here you'd better throw your principles out the window."
Nurse: Said she left Atos after 9 months, having been a nurse for 30 years.

*Atos currently carry out the Work Capability Assessments on behalf of the Government for Employment and Support Allowance claims and have recently been awarded a contract to assess disabled people for the new Personal Independence Payments. 
 

Transcript of Audio by @FordCarole [with thanks to @tinkerkitten4 ]
Source: http://www.lbc.co.uk/listen-ex-atos-nurse-tells-her-story-75493

GP Speaks Out About the Brutality of the Work Capability Assessment

Today in the Guardian, a doctor has written to express her fears that disadvantaged patients, especially those suffering from severe mental illness are being found fit to work by the Atos assessment. These people include patients who are extremely unwell and in their doctor's opnion, in no fit state to seek employment. They are being placed at high risk of homelessness and suicide as their income is stopped and their rent falls into arrears. The result of government policy is that vulnerable people with mental health conditions that were being managed by their GPs and local community health teams are now finding themselves on the streets. This cannot be right in a fair and caring society. Do we really believe that bullying vulnerable people to the point that their mental health breaks down and psychiatric crisis teams have to be called in, is a justifiable consequence of welfare reform? 
 

In the words of the GP,
 

"I have watched with mounting horror as my patient, an extremely vulnerable woman, has been put at risk of homelessness and deteriorating illness as a result of government policy. I am very aware of the importance of work, and as a GP will always encourage people to look for a suitable job if I think they can. But I also know my patients, and I am outraged that some are being put through the punishing stress this assessment causes. Many of my patients have gone through the Atos assessment to be told that they are fit for work with all their benefits stopped without notice. The financial impact is extreme. Several of my patients have shown worsening symptoms of depression, and some have become suicidal. Because we were so concerned about a patient's mental health – which worsened as a result of the stress caused by these assessments – we have had to involve a psychiatric crisis team."
 

"I am fearful that more of my patients will be put at risk of homelessness and suicide by this brutal new system."

Read the full article in The Guardian