research: What Conditions ATOS doctors CANNOT ASSESS !

Today, after doing some research about ATOS + Epilepsy + other Chronic Life-long conditions, I came across this post written on 18 November 2011, on the Action For ME website

.... link here >> http://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-informed/news/policy-and-campaigns/most-claimants-have-no-neurological-signs << ....

The information about ATOS is mentioned in the tabbed Q&A from HANSARD, so drop down to this part.

I think you might find this bit of info.. interesting - but I feel more research into this needs doing !

Here's the full post:

Writing in response to a question posted by the Countess of Mar, welfare reform ministerLord Freud caused some concern earlier this week, by saying that the majority of Employment and Support Allowance claimants who have CFS/M.E. do not exhibit “neurological signs” and, therefore, do not need to be assessed by doctors.

As Action for M.E.’s Principal Medical Adviser, Dr Alastair Miller, explains:

“Neurological signs mean hard objective abnormalities that can be demonstrated on physical examination whereas neurological symptoms mean subjective complaints from a patient.

“Both of these are often combined into the broader concept of ‘clinical features,’ ie. those aspects of an illness that can be assessed by clinical methods - that is a clinician (usually a doctor) taking a history from and performing a physical examination of a patient.

“Using this clinical method, a clinician makes a tentative or clinical diagnosis and this is then confirmed or narrowed down by using investigations such as blood laboratory analysis and clinical imaging (X-ray, scans etc).

“In order to assess someone's fitness to work or receive benefits they need an appropriate evaluation irrespective of whether they have signs or just symptoms.”

Action for M.E. believes that as M.E. is a complex and still-widely misunderstood condition, classified as neurological by the World Health Organisation, claimants should be assessed by doctors.

Chief Executive Sir Peter Spencer says, “The number of genuine claimants who are initially turned down for benefits, only to be awarded them after a lengthy and traumatic appeals process, clearly shows that expert assessment, supported by NHS CFS/M.E. specialists, is necessary.”

Sir Peter is writing to Lord Freud accordingly.

Hansard

The Countess of Mar’s question and Lord Freud’s response given below are from Hansard© Parliamentary copyright

Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the fact that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/M.E.) is classified by the World Health Organisation's mandatory International Categorisation of Diseases as a neurological disease, and that the Government's contract with Atos Healthcare requires a qualified doctor to assess employment and support allowance claimants for CFS/M.E., why the Department for Work and Pensions stated, in response to a Freedom of Information request of 23 March 2011, that any healthcare professional can undertake such assessments.

Lord Freud: The Government's contract with Atos Healthcare requires that doctors are used to assess claimants with conditions that are likely to have complex central nervous system examination findings. The majority of claimants with CFS/M.E. do not exhibit such signs and therefore CFS/M.E. is not on the list of conditions that are required to be assessed by a doctor. However, if a claimant with CFS/M.E. has neurological signs, they will be passed to a healthcare professional with the requisite expertise.

Which conditions are assessed by doctors ?

The list of conditions judged by the DWP and Atos Healthcare as suitable only for assessment by doctors is: 

• Stroke
• Head injury with neuro sequelae
• Brain haemorrhage
• Sub Arachnoid Haemorrhage
• Brain tumour
• Acoustic Neuroma
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Motor Neurone Disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• TIAs
• Bulbar Palsy
• Myasthenia Gravis
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Guillain-Barre Syndrome
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Syringomyelia
• Neurofibromatosis
• Spina bifida
• Polio
• Fits (secondary to brain tumour)
• Learning difficulties (with physical problems)
• Nystagmus
• Myelitis
• Bells Palsy
• Trigeminal Neuralgia
• Paraplegia
• Quadriplegia
• Huntington’s Chorea
• Huntington’s Disease

The list of conditions judged suitable for assessment by neuro trained nurses/any health care profession is: 

• Prolapsed intervertebral disc
• Lumbar nerve root compression
• Sciatica
• Slipped disc
• Lumbar spondylosis
• Lumbar spondylolisthesis
• Lumbar spondylolysis
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Spinal stenosis
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Neuropathy
• Drop foot
• Meralgia paraesthetica
• Cervical spondylosis
• Cervical nerve root compression
• Cervicalgia
• Nerve entrapment syndrome
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Trapped nerve
• Paraesthesia
• Tingling
• Numbness
• Brachial plexus injury
• Polyneuropathy 
• Dizziness
• Vertigo
• Essential Tremor
• VWF
• Alzheimer’s