Doctors shamefully bullied into Injustice

Doctors who sign too many people off sick or who support too many Incapacity Benefit claims are to be "named and shamed" as part of a new Benefit Fraud crackdown. What cheerful news! Anyway, here are a few places you can read the story.

 
Independent
Blair demanded incapacity benefit payments be cut to the bone, that employers should be given the right of appeal against an employee who was signed off as sick by a doctor, and that doctors writing many such notes should be audited and named and shamed as if they deserved to be put in the 21st-century stocks. He requested, too, the stepping up of means- testing for the better-off disabled, and that those on benefits should be paid partly in vouchers, redeemable only against job-training schemes.

 
 People
DODGY doctors who hand out too many sick-notes are to be named and shamed in an official crackdown.

Sickies currently cost British industry a staggering £13 billion A YEAR.

And in a bid to plug the drain, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton is planning to draw up a league table of GPs who sign off the most patients.

The worst offenders will then be investigated over the way they dole out the certificates.

And government snoops - known as "employment advisers" - will patrol surgeries looking for patients who have been allowed to swing the lead too easily.

A top Whitehall source said: "We need incentives to encourage GPs to get their patients back to work."

Sunday Mirror
DOCTORS who dish out too many sick notes face being named and shamed under a new government plan.

Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton is considering a "league of shame" which would infuriate medics. The clampdown follows research which shows some doctors issue more sick notes than others.

The move is aimed at slashing the annual payment of £13billion in sickness benefits to 2.7 million people. Ministers hope it will help cut the number of people on incapacity benefit by one million within 10 years.

A source close to Mr Hutton said: "We want the medical profession to take on much more of a role in helping get people back to work.

"The message is, 'Work is good for you'. It can help reduce the feelings of depression which many people on sickness benefit suffer from."

Doctors who sign the most sick notes would be named and then face a possible inquiry.


But critics fear ministers will use the shake-up to force thousands of sick people back to work. People claiming incapacity benefit receive from £59.20 to £70.05 - rising to £78.50 a week if they're ill for a long time.


Ministers plan to replace the benefit with a new Employment and Support Allowance by 2008. Claimants - except the most severely disabled - would have to attend "work-focused" interviews or risk having their benefits cut.