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Stephen Smith, the emaciated man deemed fit for work has died.

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I'm surprised there hasn't been some kind of Royal Commission or independent enquiry given the staggering number of fatalities, misery and caused by the DWP / ATOS /MAXIMUS. 

I can't begin to list all of everything that has happened under Iain Duncan Smith & Esther McVey's reign. It's appalling. Deliberate lies & misinformation to Parliament & smearing of benefit claimants. Just know that Stephen Smith isn't the only victim.

I'm aware that the system of WCA was started under Labour, and that should be condemned without question.

 

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11 hours ago, hauxwell said:

 That’s awful, I thought they had to be a nurse, occupational therapists or doctor.

 

No, and what's more they will contradict the medical evidence, so you can have a host of skilled professional medical staff saying you're not fit for work, but someone with 5 weeks training will say that you are on the basis of answering a few questions and with no thought for anything else (in fact they're probably not allowed to consider anything else or they'll be sacked).

You can't really blame these people, they're the product of the system, not the cause of it.  Blame the current governmental reforms and thus the current government.

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1 minute ago, taxman said:

An internal DWP report has said that they followed policy in this case.

In a way that makes his death even more shocking; and proof that government policies need to radically change. Unfortunately Rudd's response about 'safeguarding' in inadequate though expected

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Wow.  They appear to be claiming that they did little wrong, despite having denied ill health benefits to someone who shortly after died of ill health.

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This case is absolutely disgusting, and it looks like the report is just a bodged over nonesense.

 

In principle the fitness to work thing is a good idea. BUT it has to be enforced sensibly. You shouldn't have Joe Bloggs dwp staff overruling medical advice.

In the private sector, an employer can get independent medical checks to verify a workers sick note. Similar principles should apply here.

But even then, this isn't  a case of a gp signing a guy off with a cough. He had numerous severe illnesses and was in hospital. Where the hell is common sense in all of this?

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