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| Protesters take to streets over plan to embed job advisers with GPs | Protesters take to streets over plan to embed job advisers with GPs |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Disability rights activists, trade unionists and healthcare professionals blocked a major central London junction on Friday afternoon in protest against plans to embed job advisers with family doctors. | Disability rights activists, trade unionists and healthcare professionals blocked a major central London junction on Friday afternoon in protest against plans to embed job advisers with family doctors. |
| Traffic news warned motorists to avoid Old Street roundabout at the height of rush hour after about 100 protesters blocked traffic for about 30 minutes while following a demonstration outside a nearby GP practice. | |
| Campaigners are furious about a scheme being piloted in Islington in which long-term sickness benefit claimants – in particular those with mental health problems – are offered sessions with job coaches in an effort to return them to work. | |
| Roy Bard, from the Mental Health Resistance Network (MHRN), said he and fellow activists had been horrified when they learned details of the scheme, which began in September in Islington and is also being trialled in parts of the north-west. | Roy Bard, from the Mental Health Resistance Network (MHRN), said he and fellow activists had been horrified when they learned details of the scheme, which began in September in Islington and is also being trialled in parts of the north-west. |
| “We first became aware of this in an article in which a GP boasted that she could now prescribe job coaching for her patients,” he said. But he said job coaching was not a treatment recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which assesses therapies and provides guidelines for NHS use. | “We first became aware of this in an article in which a GP boasted that she could now prescribe job coaching for her patients,” he said. But he said job coaching was not a treatment recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which assesses therapies and provides guidelines for NHS use. |
| “People generally come to a surgery because they want treatment, not because they want a job. | “People generally come to a surgery because they want treatment, not because they want a job. |
| “When we dug around we found it was DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) funded; it was a pilot running from September last year until September this year; [and] it was a model for a formal roll-out, although there is not going to be a formal evaluation. They are not going to do anything which might show it is not going to be a good idea.” | “When we dug around we found it was DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) funded; it was a pilot running from September last year until September this year; [and] it was a model for a formal roll-out, although there is not going to be a formal evaluation. They are not going to do anything which might show it is not going to be a good idea.” |
| Funded in part by the Islington clinical commissioning group but with the bulk of the money coming from the DWP, the “Islington’s working better” scheme offers patients at six participating practices who are unemployed and have a long-term health condition access to one-to-one employment support with Remploy job coaches. The group seeks to find employment for disabled people. | |
| According to council documents, the coaches are based in surgeries for up to one day a week “to work with patients to establish their previous work experience, knowledge and skills, to build confidence, set goals and identify job or educational opportunities”. | According to council documents, the coaches are based in surgeries for up to one day a week “to work with patients to establish their previous work experience, knowledge and skills, to build confidence, set goals and identify job or educational opportunities”. |
| The rationale for the scheme is that there is evidence linking employment with good health. While it is currently voluntary, critics fear that it is part of a strategy by the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, to bring jobcentres, and their culture of welfare sanctions, into the heart of the NHS. | The rationale for the scheme is that there is evidence linking employment with good health. While it is currently voluntary, critics fear that it is part of a strategy by the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, to bring jobcentres, and their culture of welfare sanctions, into the heart of the NHS. |
| Coral Jones, a GP in Hackney, the neighbouring borough, said: “What for me is the most shocking thing about this is when we read the minutes of the meeting where they agreed this pilot – it says there will be no evaluation of this pilot before it’s rolled out nationally. | Coral Jones, a GP in Hackney, the neighbouring borough, said: “What for me is the most shocking thing about this is when we read the minutes of the meeting where they agreed this pilot – it says there will be no evaluation of this pilot before it’s rolled out nationally. |
| “The thing about making major changes to people’s healthcare is that it should be evidence based. I think it’s about putting pressure on people and sanctioning them. It’s part of the ideology which says people with disabilities and mental health problems really aren’t as sick as they say they are. They fail to appreciate how many things make people’s mental health conditions worse.” | |
| Denise McKenna, also with MHRN, said she was very concerned at the scheme’s stated aim of allowing employment coaches to write directly on patients’ medical records. She added: “Many of these [patients] are people who have already been through the trauma of the work capability assessment. They may have had to appeal and they are living in fear of the possibility of losing their benefits. They need their benefits to live, they are not in any fit state to work. | |
| “The thing that upsets me the most is the fact that doctors are going to be raising this subject with their patients regardless of what that patient’s experience with the DWP and the work capability assessment has been. | “The thing that upsets me the most is the fact that doctors are going to be raising this subject with their patients regardless of what that patient’s experience with the DWP and the work capability assessment has been. |
| “People will become frightened to interact with doctors because people are already watching what they say and people will become paranoid. That could have drastic consequences. Someone could be harbouring cancer and not have that detected. It is very serious, it’s a very serious situation. | “People will become frightened to interact with doctors because people are already watching what they say and people will become paranoid. That could have drastic consequences. Someone could be harbouring cancer and not have that detected. It is very serious, it’s a very serious situation. |
| “We think eventually it will become compulsory. They are treating unemployment as a mental health condition and unemployment is a consequence of not a cause of mental ill-health.” | “We think eventually it will become compulsory. They are treating unemployment as a mental health condition and unemployment is a consequence of not a cause of mental ill-health.” |
| Mona Kamal, a junior doctor specialising in psychiatry, said she felt it was crucial that the medical profession supported patients by opposing such austerity inspired policies. | Mona Kamal, a junior doctor specialising in psychiatry, said she felt it was crucial that the medical profession supported patients by opposing such austerity inspired policies. |
| “As a psychiatrist I have seen firsthand the impact of these austerity cuts on psychiatric patients in particular,” Kamal said. | “As a psychiatrist I have seen firsthand the impact of these austerity cuts on psychiatric patients in particular,” Kamal said. |
| “This new move of bringing the punitive culture of welfare sanctions into what should be a safe, therapeutic environment for patients, I think that’s completely wrong.” | “This new move of bringing the punitive culture of welfare sanctions into what should be a safe, therapeutic environment for patients, I think that’s completely wrong.” |
| Kamal added: “Doctors have a lot of attention on them at the moment and I think it is important that we speak up for our service users as well because these attacks are not just attacks on doctors, they are in the wider context of austerity. | Kamal added: “Doctors have a lot of attention on them at the moment and I think it is important that we speak up for our service users as well because these attacks are not just attacks on doctors, they are in the wider context of austerity. |
| “I think it’s important while we have the chance not just to take on this fight as our own, but to speak up for our patients.” | “I think it’s important while we have the chance not just to take on this fight as our own, but to speak up for our patients.” |
| A spokesperson for the Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, said that patients would not be sanctioned if they refused coaching. | A spokesperson for the Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, said that patients would not be sanctioned if they refused coaching. |
| “This local pilot which is entirely voluntary, offers patients (including those who may have experienced mental health problems) the opportunity to be referred for employment advice and guidance if they feel that a return to work would be beneficial. | “This local pilot which is entirely voluntary, offers patients (including those who may have experienced mental health problems) the opportunity to be referred for employment advice and guidance if they feel that a return to work would be beneficial. |
| “Employment coaches are provided by Remploy, and involvement in this local pilot will have no impact whatsoever on receipt of benefits. This is made clear by the healthcare practitioners making referrals and trained employment coaches delivering the support. If at any time, a patient decides they no longer wish to be involved in the pilot, they are able to leave.” | “Employment coaches are provided by Remploy, and involvement in this local pilot will have no impact whatsoever on receipt of benefits. This is made clear by the healthcare practitioners making referrals and trained employment coaches delivering the support. If at any time, a patient decides they no longer wish to be involved in the pilot, they are able to leave.” |