ATOS HCP's - Not target based?

[nickd]

Is Atos target based?







"To work to agreed productivity targets and standards agreed between Atos Healthcare and the DWP"



In Parliament today the Employment minister Mark Hoban refuted a suggestion that the DWP's private healthcare contractor worked to government set targets, he also denied that Atos worked to their own targets.


It's an interesting claim which Mr Hoban makes given a couple of factors. The first factor is that government is almost certainly working to a pre-set target as revealed in a Parliamentary Standard note (SN 140) which sets out the government's plans in respect of how it is specifically looking at reducing the benefit count.














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Job Details

Registered Physiotherapist - Disability Analyst - UK Wide

Reference no.
133387
Country
United Kingdom

Region

UK Wide, UK - London, UK - Northern Ireland, UK - Southeast, UK - Warwickshire, UK - East Anglia, UK - Southwest, UK - West Midlands, IE - Ireland wide, UK - East Midlands, UK - North, UK - Northeast, UK - Northwest, UK - South, UK - Scotland, UK - Wales
City UK Wide

Position Type

Professional

Job Area

Medical / Healthcare

Job Type

Full Time

Company

Atos Healthcare

Company Information

Atos Healthcare, a division of Atos Origin, combines the Company’s expertise in consulting, technology and healthcare to improve the way care is delivered. Services range from lean service transformation, commissioning, hosting and software development, through to disability assessments, occupational health and front line primary care. Atos Healthcare has a team of more than 2500, of whom over 1900 are qualified medical professionals

Atos Healthcare is a leading provider of occupational health, employee assistance programmes, primary care and capability assessment services. We make a positive difference to the health and wellbeing of some of the UK's largest organisations, delivering services that benefit over two million people each year. Our occupational health, counselling and screening services, enable employers to pro-actively promote employee wellbeing, reducing sickness absence and ensuring maximum workforce productivity.

Job Description

Main Purpose of Role

To undertake medical assessments and examinations required for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) as part of a successful integrated team.

To contribute to the commercial relationship between Atos Healthcare and the DWP at a local level, ensuring that targets are met in quality, productivity and customer satisfaction.

To undertake a combination of file-work assessment (which is assessing medical evidence in a written or electronic format) and face-to-face assessments of customers in relation to a variety of benefits and provide a report to the DWP.

Overview of role & main responsibilities:

• To undertake file-work / and or examinations using Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) protocols to support decision making in the assessment of disability and incapacity.

• To use IT software programmes to support clinical decision making when undertaking file-work and examinations.

• To provide comprehensive reports to enable decision makers at DWP to make informed decisions regarding benefit claims.

Job Requirements

Essential requirements of Role

• Registration and continuous professional development should be maintained in accordance with the requirements of Post Registration and Practice (PREP) standards set by the HPC.

• Ensure that professional practice standards and “best practice” are maintained in all areas of work

• To work to agreed productivity targets and standards agreed between Atos Healthcare and the DWP

• To work unsupervised and use own initiative however know limitations and ask for support where necessary

• To analyse and interpret clinical information and medical evidence and provide a report in a professional and concise manner.

• Work well as part of a multidisciplinary team and build positive working relationships with both medical colleagues and administrative support staff

• Have highly developed both oral and written communications skills and be able to negotiate successfully and respond to rapidly changing work environment.

• Be able to apply professional skills and manage own professional competence and accountability, in accordance with the HPC Code of Professional Conduct.

• Undertake any ad hoc responsibilities as requested by the Site Medical Manager or Nurse Team Leader.

Essential skills and experience

• Registered General Nurse with a minimum of three years post registration experience.

• Broad based experience and assessment skills. Previous experience of disability assessment and experience of clinical decision making desirable.

• IT literate with experience of using a range of software. To have completed ECDL or equivalent is desirable.

• Ability to travel to a range of locations as the business requires.

• Highly developed written and verbal communication skills

• Experience of change management and the ability to influence and negotiate successfully with a range of people. A management qualification is desirable.

• Evidence of responding to unexpected changes by adopting a flexible approach to work

• Evidence of ongoing professional development

• Ability to work to targets and specified standards

This job description is not intended to be exhaustive and may be revised from time to time to reflect the changing needs of the business.

Additional Information

Compensation and Benefits

In return we offer a competitive salary, contributory stakeholder pension scheme, generous holiday allowance, employee private medical cover, Life assurance, Personal Accident Insurance, Season Ticket Loan and a flexible benefits scheme that allows you to purchase discounted products and services. Additionally, comprehensive training and development is delivered in a variety of ways, leading to accreditation if required.

Contact Info

If you wish to apply for this position, please click below to complete our online application form and attach your CV in either Word, rtf or text format.


Applications will be reviewed by the retained recruiter for Atos Healthcare on the DWP Programme, sjb medical. We are also pleased to offer a generous referral scheme to anyone wishing to refer friends or colleagues for this role. For further information please email [e-mail] with contact details for both yourself and those who you wish to refer for this role.
Atos Origin does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, age, disability or sexual orientation. All recruitment decisions are based solely on qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience and relevant business requirements.

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© Atos S.A. 2011 all rights reserved

[qinteq]

Move this post as appropriate - I asked 2 question yesterday - Which were :

Your own application process requires a minimum of RGN with three years or more post registration experience. Atos Healthcare declare a team of more than 2500, 1900 of whom are are qualified medical professionals.

- What % of the 76% who are qualified to carry out WCA's work on the front line and actually carry out WCA's on a day to day basis .. .. interacting directly with 'customers' ? and ;

- What % of the 76% who are qualified to carry out WCA's work on the front line and actually carry out WCA's on a day to day basis interacting directly with 'customers' .. .. are registered as 'doctors' ?

The answer I received just this morning from ATOS was :

"We have approximately 1400 health care professionals working specifically on the DWP Medical Services contract across all benefit assessments that we are contracted to deliver. This breaks down into approx. 750 doctors (of which approx. 500 are contracted and 250 are employed); 600 nurses and 50 physiotherapists. The majority of time for all types of health care professional will be face-to-face work, with other time being spent on such things as paper reviews of referrals, audit, management tasks, and training. Splits will vary by individual and so I can't provide a general percentage."

NOTE : Much of this is old news, but may be worth watching all the way through as it records the method used by the HCP to construct an actionable 'refusenik' scenario : www.liveleak.com/view?i=37e_1358638033

[nickd]

Very helpful Qintec - great contribution :-) Keep them coming

[qinteq]

.Q. Evacuation of wheelchair users and those physically unable to use the stairs

.A. "I understand your point here. However, Atos Healthcare is asked to follow the health and safety guidance provided by the DWP for the small number of Centres without ground floor assessment facilities.

Due to the unpredictable number of people (and those accompanying them) with mobility problems in the Centre at any one time, it would be unsafe for the small number of Atos Healthcare employees to assist everyone who could not use the stairs in the event of a building evacuation"

.Q. Why do Atos deliberately overbook processing slots leading to disabled people having to wait for very long times in ill-equiped waiting rooms?

.A. "Unfortunately, there is a variable attendance pattern for our appointments. We attempt to make the optimum use of medical resource each day while trying to maintain the best possible customer service. This is a balance which we strive to get right, in consultation with the DWP. Therefore, we have to anticipate that a number of people will not attend their appointments, which can be difficult to predict and varies from day to day. Sometimes this does result in waiting times which we always aim to minimise, keeping customers informed and we will reschedule their appointment if requested.

Our booking policy for each Assessment Centre is constantly reviewed and adapted in the light of local attendance rates and circumstances."

.Q. Do ATOS keep claimants past claim/medical history on file

.A' "The shared computer system with the DWP retains a record of referrals for advice, how the referral was processed and the advice we have provided to the DWP. Atos Healthcare does not have access to any information about the wider claim. Any paperwork collected during the process of the referral, such as medical evidence and the ESA50 questionnaire, is returned to the DWP at the point advice is provided on the referral. At all times any information that is held is kept according to DWP data security requirements."

.Q. If you turn up to an assessment, but refuse to give consent for non-medically proficient staff to carry out an assessment, what happens ?

.A. "If someone arrived for an assessment but refused to give consent to continue the referral would be returned by us to DWP. They would then determine what action they would take. Please be assured though that all of our health care professionals are doctors, nurses and physiotherapists who have at least three years post-qualification experience and are registered with their Medical Body. Before carrying out assessments they all receive further comprehensive specialist training in disability assessment. They must then be approved by the DWP Chief Medical Adviser on behalf of the Secretary of State."

.Q. How soon should the ATOS report be available to the DWP. I've called after having an assessment last week, to be told they haven't received the report yet, but the ATOS rep (doc) said it would be available instantly as it's sent electronically?

.A. "Reports are normally available the next day for the DWP following the Work Capability Assessment. A random number are chosen for quality audit and this may delay their release for a few days. The Benefit Centre handling your claim will be able to confirm when the report is received"

.Q. Why are ATOS not asking for medical evidence from G.P.'s and other health care professionals? Why are ATOS expecting the claimants to do this? It is costing the claimants a lot of money, where it is free if asked for by ATOS.

.A. "Many patients already have copies of outpatient letters, test results and so on, as they are often sent copies routinely as part of their medical care. This sort of information can be very useful as it helps the Atos Healthcare professional to understand the claimant’s health problems and may allow advice to be given to DWP without a face-to-face assessment. Claimants are only asked to send in any medical information that they already have available; they are not expected to request that a new medical report is produced by their GP for the purposes of the WCA as some GPs may charge for this type of service. If the claimant has no medical evidence to send in, and the information that is provided on their questionnaire suggests that advice could be provided to DWP without the need for a face to face assessment, a request will be sent from Atos Healthcare to the GP for more information.

.Q. if your "audit" shows that a practitioner has a higher than average number of SG recommendations what happens to them!!

.,A. "If our statistics show that a practitioner has a higher – or lower – than average number of recommendations in a particular category, we would look at their work to make sure that they were giving good quality advice and following the correct procedures. It may simply be that they had a higher – or lower – than average number of cases in that category and that the recommendations given were correct. That is quite likely, and if that is the reason then no further action is needed.

If the practitioner is outside of the average because of the way they do things rather than because of the mix of people they are seeing, we would look at why and we would provide guidance and possibly additional training.

This way of assuring quality is common in clinical environments. It’s just acknowledging that there are often good reasons for being outside of an expected norm, but that these cases should still be checked to make sure there are no quality issues."

.Q. Do the assessors take into account the fluctuations of a persons condtion?

.A. "The design of the Work Capability Assessment does take into account the fact that people's conditions will vary and the healthcare professional will be looking for the effects of any fluctuating conditions over time.

.Q. Does ATOS suffer any penalty for assessments that find a person fit for work, which are then overturned on appeal? Does ATOS have a target or targets for the percentage of claimants to be found eligible for the support group?

.A. "We are not informed of the final outcome of the claims that we are involved with. We also only provide information on capability, which DWP will use to come to a ‘fit for work’ decision. The Tribunal Service have reported that very few decisions are changed due to issues with the report that we produce, and in many cases there has been additional evidence presented at the Appeal that was not previously available.

We do not have any targets based on the percentage of people the DWP find eligible for the support group."

[qinteq]

NOTE : None of the above are my personal posts but the posts of others. Feel free to use / move / delete any or all of each of them.

[nickd]

Many thanks Qintec, they're all very relevant and helpful. I may move them down this thread a bit but they're fine on here - great work!

[qinteq]

One or two are more noticeably relevant, what may be obscure to me could be momentous to others. What is however salient is that it records verbatim the words writ large by ATOS themselves, such as this one which in the interest of keeping your page tidy you might want to move to ≈ Reply #3:

.Q. Can i confirm that it will be alright to bring somebody else to the Assessment? A family friend. (He's a Solicitor)

.A. yes, as others have said, you can bring somebody with you to the assessment

[qinteq]

In the interest of keeping your page tidy you might want to move to ≈ Reply #3:

.Q. You have 141 assessment centres, on any one day, on average, over the last 26 weeks how many recording machines are functional and 'in use' in an assessment centre ?

Functional recording machines in assessment centres

.A.

We currently have 52 devices in place and numbers fluctuate in terms of those out for repair – it's usually less than about 5 at any time.

[qinteq]

In the interest of keeping your page tidy you might want to move to ≈ Reply #3:

Read more: mylegal.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=frontline&thread=846&page=1#2705#ixzz2JavfqdWS

.Q. Just so we know how many these 50 recorders may have too go around if everyone started to have there medical recorded

.A. At the moment the number of machines being used provides sufficient capacity for the number of requests received each month. During a period last year when demand increased quickly we weren’t able to provide recording appointments within our normal timescales and we are currently working through those requests. Any longer term decisions about the scale of audio recording (using your example of everyone wanting to have their assessment recorded) would be driven by DWP.

.Q. As a follow up to this revelation can we find out from the Atos PR Rep what action do Atos take when a GP doesn't fulfil their obligation under the terms of the above legislation? Do they issue a reminder to the GPs that they are under an obligation to supply an ESA113 to Atos? Or do they just sit back and do nothing!

.A. If we don’t receive the ESA113 back from a GP surgery our health care professionals may follow-up, for example, with a phone call. If a response is received after a face-to-face assessment has been booked the information will be reviewed and the assessment cancelled if it is no longer needed.

.Q. So why don't Atos wait until you receive the ESA113 back from the GP or ascertain the reason why the GP hasn't sent back the ESA113 before arranging a F2F assessment? Surely that would benefit both parties and the taxpayer or is it because Atos gets paid by the WCAs they carry out!! Also how long does Atos give the GP to return the completed ESA113 that they are under a statutory obligation to complete and return?

.A. DWP set the timescales for a response from GPs at 15 calendar days. We don’t attempt to arrange an assessment during that period, but we aren’t able to allow any more time. We are not incentivised to bring people in for a face to face assessment and we avoid doing it if it is not necessary.

.Q. Could you please tell me why ATOS refuse to give 'customers' access to their complaints procedure on request ?

.A. The procedures we follow are owned by the DWP, which is why we aren’t able provide them and requests need to be directed to DWP. However, details about how to complain are available on request if you contact us, and can be found on our website and in assessment centres.

.Q. How is it possible for ATOS to declare a person Unfit for work during a Occupational Health Assessment for any of the Government departments they provide the service to (including the staff at DWP), and then find the same person Fit for Work under the WCA?

.A. Atos Healthcare carries out both occupational healthcare and disability assessments on behalf of a number of different clients in the Public and Private sectors. These two assessments are not the same and have different objectives. An occupational healthcare assessment is designed to see if somebody is able to do their current job, while a disability assessment looks at what people can do and if they are capable of undertaking some work.

.Q. Didn't dispatches and panorama find out they were target driven among other things. their target was to only let around about 20% of claimants pass the medical or something iir correctly. i may be wrong though

.A. We don’t have targets for the outcome of an assessment – we look at extremes of trends just to keep an eye on quality. That is a fairly standard approach to quality checking

.Q. I have had calls from that number regarding an appointment being made though.And,which assessment centre does it come from because it is NOT the assessment centre i have attended because that 0121 number is from west bromwich,a million miles from me.Sorry but this is the ONLY number i knowingly have had ATOS calls from
.A. The phone system used in some sites is internet based, so is not part of the local telephone exchange, which is why the area code might be different.

Q. Can a HCP stop a claimant from conferring/talking or gesturing, with his or her chaperone at the so called Medical.

.A. A HCP would not try and stop someone from talking or conferring with their companion. We recognise that a companion may provide a valuable contribution and discussion between claimant and companion can help this. However, the assessment and discussion will always be focused towards the claimant. The health care professional would explain how they will proceed at the assessment.

.Q. Can you deny that recordings are made of attendants while thay are in the waiting room, and that their behaviour in the waiting room forms part of the assesment.

.A. If CCTV is in place in an assessment centre and/or as part of the building that it is in it will never be used for the purposes of the Work Capability Assessment, but is for the safety of all staff and visitors. The HCP will take observations of the person being assessed while they are with them, which would include in the waiting room when they meet them there.