http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2011/oct/disabled-protest-%E2%80%93%C2%A0atos-under-attack

Disabled protest – Atos under attack

Published: October 7, 2011
by PAVAN AMARA

DOZENS of disabled people protested against health testing firm Atos outside a conference in Islington on Friday.

The demo was staged at a British Medical Journal (BMJ) conference at the Business Design Centre in Upper Street.

About 50 people chanted slogans and held up banners after more than 100 organisations, doctors and nurses signed a letter to the BMJ Group and the Royal College of Nursing.

Atos has a £100million-a-year contract with the Department for Work and Pensions to carry out examinations for disability benefits.

Thousands of people, some with terminal or life-threatening conditions, have been found fit for work, but at tribunals up to 70 per cent of appeals against the assessments have been successful, with benefits being reinstated.

Gillian Simpson, 56, who was at the protest, said: “I have neuro-sensitisation in my hands, which means they constantly ache and I can’t do bimanual work. Yet I was assessed as being able to work, which is completely wrong. I don’t want to make my hands worse.”

A spokeswoman for the BMJ said: “We will seek assurances from Atos that its employees’ duties comply fully with the General Medical Council’s Good Medical Practice and, in particular, that its employees are not encouraged to make decisions except in the individual patient’s best interests.”