In a striking paper which has just been published in “Clinical Medicine” (Vol 12, No 4: 346–50), the official journal of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, the authors, Martin McKee, Marina Karanikolos, Paul Belcher and David Stuckler from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Royal College of Physicians of London, University of Cambridge, write as follows:
“Many governments in Europe, either of their own volition or at the behest of the international financial institutions, have adopted stringent austerity policies in response to the financial crisis. By contrast, the USA launched a financial stimulus. The results of these experiments are now clear: the American economy is growing and those European countries adopting austerity, including the UK, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, are stagnating and struggling to repay rising debts. An initial recovery in the UK was halted once austerity measures hit. However, austerity has been not only an economic failure, but also a health failure, with increasing numbers of suicides and, where cuts in health budgets are being imposed, increasing numbers of people being unable to access care. Yet their stories remain largely untold. Here, we argue that there is an alternative to austerity, but that ideology is triumphing over evidence. Our paper was written to contribute to discussions among health policy leaders in Europe that will take place at the 15th European Health Forum at Gastein in October 2012, as its theme ‘Crisis and Opportunity – Health in an Age of Austerity’”
So far, 83 MPs have signed the ‘early day motion’ regarding ATOS. The full text of this motion is available here. The Daily Mirror recently used the Freedom of Information Act to discover that, between January and August last year, 1,100 claimants died after they were put in the “work-related activity group”. This group – which accounted for 21% of all claimants at the last count – get a lower rate of benefit for one year and are expected to go out and find work. This apparently compares to 5,300 deaths of people who were put in the “support group” – which accounts for 22% of claimants – for the most unwell, who get the full, no-strings benefit of up to £99.85 a week.
Furthermore, Dr John Canning, chair of the GPC’s professional fees committee and a GP in Cleveland, has said: “A 40% success rate of appeals suggests the appeals process and the first round are inconsistent in their approach. We have concerns about the process with Atos and how their doctors are remunerated and encouraged to work – that is to do with how the contract is managed. The second bit is how long it takes to get an appeal, it can take up to nine months in some cases and that is incredibly unfair on people. I don’t believe that the tribunal service is adequately staffed with doctors – certainly not with doctors who are active in clinical practise.”
Campaigners had called for Dow’s sponsorship of the London Paralympic Games to be dropped due to Dow’s ownership of Union Carbide, the company responsible for the Bhopal gas disaster in 1984. An account of the impact of this disaster is given in Wikipedia, but, on the other hand, George Hamilton, the Dow executive in charge of running the Olympic show for the company, has said that they “believe in the Olympics and what they stand for. They bring the world together like no other sports event. But we have to make it worthwhile. We are targeting $1 billion in incremental business over the 10-year partnership.”
In a recent report by Amelia Gentleman in the Guardian, prompted by TV investigations through the flagship programmes, ‘Panorama and Dispatches’, it was described that secret filming of training given to doctors recruited by the private company Atos to assess whether sickness and disability benefit applicants are fit for work had suggested that staff are monitored to ensure they do not find excessive numbers of claimants eligible. On Thursday 26 July 2012, the High Court granted permission to two disabled people to bring a claim for judicial review against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to challenge the operation of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).
In granting permission to apply for judicial review, the judge stated:
“I consider that it is reasonably arguable that the reasonable adjustments required by the [Equality Act 2010] include the early obtaining of independent medical evidence where the documents submitted with the claim show that the claimant suffers from mental health problems and that this has not been done, or at least not done on a sufficiently widespread basis”.
Again – if austerity is having such a negative impact socially, one is left asking the question whether the legislature or the judiciary are ultimately having to sort out the problem. It is now considered that the current governing parties (a coalition of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) has produced “the worst recession for 50 years”, having succeeded in producing a recession was in fact growing when they took over in May 2010.
