:00:14. > :00:24.This man is about to have a Work Capability Assessment to see if he
:00:24. > :00:25.
:00:25. > :00:30.can stay on disability benefits or More than two million claimants
:00:30. > :00:35.have to take this test. Its aim? To weed out bogus
:00:35. > :00:41.claimants and get those who can work back into employment. But has
:00:41. > :00:46.it gone too far? I think the people who are genuinely unwell, have not
:00:46. > :00:50.done anything wrong in their lives that have to do this test is
:00:50. > :00:56.despicable. The Government pays ATOS Healthcare to run the system.
:00:57. > :01:02.Yet thousands of disabled people say it is pushing them to the brink.
:01:02. > :01:06.Our client has taken several overdoses and the assessor said
:01:06. > :01:16."why aren't you dead?". Government's troubleshooter thinks
:01:16. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :01:32.it needs to change. People will The welfare state is expensive. �13
:01:32. > :01:36.billion of taxes is spent on incapacity benefits. Now the
:01:36. > :01:42.Government says the system needs to be tightened up and introduced the
:01:42. > :01:47.Welfare Reform Act to do that. Almost �1 in every three spent by
:01:47. > :01:50.the Government is spent on welfare. We need a welfare system that the
:01:51. > :01:55.country can properly afford. Disability benefits is one of the
:01:55. > :02:00.areas target. Nearly 7% of the working age population in the UK
:02:00. > :02:04.claim benefits because they're too ill to work. Some, are simply lying.
:02:04. > :02:08.The man in the white T-shirt told benefit officials he couldn't walk
:02:08. > :02:13.without a stick, but he was capable of doing this, attacking passers by
:02:13. > :02:19.and the police. Then there's this man who claimed disability benefits
:02:19. > :02:23.but still managed to run the London Marathon. Last week, this Lottery
:02:23. > :02:30.millionaire was jailed for benefit fraud. The outright cheats are a
:02:30. > :02:36.minority. Less than half a per cent of incapacity claims are said to be
:02:36. > :02:43.fraudulent. The real issue is not the scamers but those who are fit
:02:43. > :02:45.enough to work if given help. The Government's man in charge denies
:02:46. > :02:53.that. It is not a financial exercise, it is about saying it is
:02:53. > :02:56.a huge waste of life, for so many people to be left at home on
:02:56. > :03:00.benefits doing nothing. Nothing asked the question do you have the
:03:00. > :03:05.potential to return to work. I passionately believe, if we can
:03:05. > :03:09.help people back in work, they are we are off than stranded at home on
:03:09. > :03:15.benefits for the rest of their lives. It was the last Labour
:03:15. > :03:19.Government which began to reform the capacity benefit system in 2008.
:03:19. > :03:25.For the new benefit, claimant support allowance, claimants would
:03:25. > :03:27.be tested to come off the benefit and do some sort of work. The test
:03:27. > :03:32.was called a Work Capability Assessment. The current Government
:03:32. > :03:37.picked up the ball and kept running. They enhanced the test and now
:03:37. > :03:45.everyone who is on benefits because they're too ill to work has to be
:03:45. > :03:48.assessed. Four years since the assessment yaes introduction, a
:03:48. > :03:54.third of those claiming Incapacity Benefit have been found fit for
:03:54. > :03:59.work. Is it just weeding out the undeserving. I want to meet the
:03:59. > :04:04.people at the sharp end. Chris Davies is one of them. Can we stop
:04:04. > :04:07.for a minute. Are you OK? Yeah. Chris worked all his life in the
:04:07. > :04:13.steel industry and then as a lorry driver.
:04:13. > :04:17.I enjoyed the job. It was long hours. Early morning starts, but I
:04:17. > :04:23.enjoyed it. In 2009 he became seriously ill with a chest
:04:23. > :04:27.infection that wouldn't go away. It turned out to be the chronic lunge
:04:27. > :04:32.disease emphysema. One morning his breathing was so laboured he was
:04:32. > :04:38.rushed to hospital. One of the doctors called us in the office and
:04:38. > :04:42.she told me he had two days to live, she said I would advise you look
:04:42. > :04:48.through the holiday snaps and remember all the good times. And
:04:48. > :04:54.prepare for his funeral. Chris pulled through but returninging to
:04:54. > :04:57.work was out of the question. He was assessed. Found unfit for work
:04:57. > :05:02.and given Employment Support Allowance under �90 a week. He
:05:02. > :05:09.settled into a life, coping with his illness. For Chris, climbing
:05:09. > :05:17.the stairs can be a challenge can't walk far. 50, metres before I
:05:17. > :05:23.have to stop. I have to lean against something, catch my breath.
:05:23. > :05:27.Last year he was called in for another Work Capability Assessment.
:05:27. > :05:32.It is a point-based system. The more points you get the less able
:05:32. > :05:37.you are to work. You need 15 points or more to keep your benefits.
:05:37. > :05:43.In May, I received a letter saying I hadn't passed the medical
:05:43. > :05:51.assessment, and I was fit for work. I was shocked, because there was no
:05:52. > :05:57.way I could work, not physically. And, according to my doctor I was
:05:57. > :06:02.unfit for work. The assessment was clear, Chris received no points. He
:06:02. > :06:08.was fit for work. When they turned around they were stopping my
:06:08. > :06:11.benefits altogether, I thought, what are we going to do? He could
:06:11. > :06:16.still claim Job Seekers' Allowance, only if he is well enough to
:06:16. > :06:21.actively seek work. Some groups running the work programme told
:06:21. > :06:25.Panorama, that many people they're asked to deal with, are clearly
:06:25. > :06:29.unfit for work. Chris appealed and went to a tribunal. It caused me a
:06:29. > :06:35.lot of stress, because I was thinking, if I go to the tribunal
:06:35. > :06:38.and lose that, I wouldn't get any money at all. I wouldn't be able to
:06:38. > :06:48.work. Chris won. His benefits were
:06:48. > :06:50.
:06:50. > :06:56.restored and back dated. His case is far from unique. More than
:06:56. > :07:01.176,000 case go to tribunal cases, costing the taxpayer millions of
:07:01. > :07:05.pounds. The figures suggest about 30% of the cases are being
:07:05. > :07:11.overturned. Welfare rights adviser, Neil Bateman says his success vait
:07:11. > :07:17.higher. I think I've won all of them so far. Other advisers are
:07:17. > :07:21.getting very similar success rates, 80-90% with advisers is common,
:07:21. > :07:27.which is ridiculous, that we're getting a fantastic success rate.
:07:27. > :07:30.What does that tell but the system? It is badly thraued the assessment
:07:30. > :07:39.process, the way they gather the evidence and quality of the
:07:39. > :07:43.decision-making is badly wrong. If you have 176,000 appeals a year,
:07:43. > :07:49.and a third of them are successful, that can't be right? I think you
:07:49. > :07:52.have to look at why the appeals are successful. I wish the judges
:07:52. > :07:58.looked beyond the first impression and thought is it really the case,
:07:58. > :08:05.that the people could not return to any form of work. All over Britain,
:08:05. > :08:10.we've been hearing from people, who are appealing. I've been diagnose
:08:10. > :08:16.with the inflamatory arthritis, which is causing constant joint
:08:16. > :08:22.pain. I used to be a freelance photographer, however, I developed
:08:22. > :08:25.a severe case of depression, for which I am receiving a high doesage
:08:26. > :08:29.of medication. The decision about whether someone is fit to work,
:08:29. > :08:33.will be taken by officials at the Department of Work and Pensions,
:08:33. > :08:38.based just here. But a significant, factor in making that decision,
:08:38. > :08:46.will be the initial assessment, carried out at ATOS Healthcare,
:08:46. > :08:51.which is a private company. It is this case that has come in for huge
:08:51. > :08:56.criticism and the advisers helping them overturn the decisions made.
:08:56. > :09:00.They'll ask you things like can you move an empty cardboard box. And
:09:00. > :09:06.that's because one of the activities is your ability to reach
:09:06. > :09:11.and move things around. But I can't think of a job, that involves
:09:11. > :09:15.moving empty cardboard boxes. Government admits there's room for
:09:16. > :09:20.improvement. Two years ago, they appointed, Professor Malcolm
:09:20. > :09:25.Harrington to independently review the system. He believes the test on
:09:25. > :09:31.its own has serious limitations. you rely entirely on the computer
:09:31. > :09:35.programme, yes it won't work. And I think it is now shown not to work.
:09:35. > :09:38.You have to involve human beings, looking at all the information that
:09:38. > :09:46.is available, because they're dealing with human beings. We've
:09:46. > :09:48.also spoken to five people who have carried out the test. Like all ATOS
:09:48. > :09:53.Healthcare assessors, they're medically qualified. Most were
:09:53. > :09:57.afraid to go on the record, because they signed confidentiality
:09:57. > :10:02.agreements. One gave their permission to use the statement and
:10:02. > :10:07.told us the system are rigid. are people you would like to award
:10:07. > :10:12.ESA to, and can't. If you're doing it honestly, they don't get the
:10:12. > :10:17.points and that's it, they're stuffed. We've decide today follow
:10:17. > :10:21.two people, going through the assessment process. This is Marie
:10:21. > :10:27.Aldridge from Hertfordshire. She's 21, and has a condition called fieb
:10:27. > :10:32.fieb, - fibromyalgia which means her joints can dislocate. I left
:10:33. > :10:39.school at 16, I had various jobs, mainly customer service call type
:10:39. > :10:46.things, but I lost a few of them, down to my fibromyalgia. So, I gave
:10:46. > :10:50.in. And I pride for ESA. This will be Marie's first ESA assessment and
:10:50. > :11:00.she's agreed for it to be secretly filmed.
:11:00. > :11:05.Can you lift the arms? Put them to the neck and keep them straight.
:11:05. > :11:10.the same day in North Wales, Chris Davies is attending his third
:11:10. > :11:20.assessment, despite previously winning an appeal, which made it
:11:20. > :11:24.
:11:24. > :11:34.Will these assessments help reveal why some disabled people are denied
:11:34. > :11:34.
:11:34. > :11:39.This doctor doesn't ask him for more detail about his breathing or
:11:39. > :11:43.medical evidence. But then that's not his job. He's here to conduct
:11:43. > :11:48.the assessment as it is designed and follows procedures properly.
:11:49. > :11:53.But it is very different from how Chris's own doctors monitor his
:11:53. > :12:00.condition. They can't tell us by listening to it. The consultant,
:12:00. > :12:05.every time he sends me for an X-ray, and takes blood samples as well.
:12:05. > :12:08.Marie's assessment, takes 20 minutes.
:12:08. > :12:12.ATOS insiders told us they're pressed for time, because of the
:12:12. > :12:18.amount of paperwork they have to do, for each examination. We're under
:12:18. > :12:22.pressure to see eight people a day, even if it is impossible to do. I'd
:12:22. > :12:27.like to think the quality of my work is consistent. But the time
:12:27. > :12:31.pressure doesn't help, and, working for ATOS is one of the least
:12:31. > :12:36.popular things for health care professionals, it is pressurised
:12:36. > :12:39.and being put on performance reviews. We wanted to ask ATOS
:12:39. > :12:44.whether assessors had enough time to consider all relevant
:12:44. > :12:49.information. They refused to be interviewed but told us their staff,
:12:49. > :12:51.carry out thousands of assessments, in accordance with the detailed
:12:51. > :12:56.guidelines with the Department of Work and Pensions. Any serious
:12:56. > :12:59.suggestion that our work has fallen short of the high standards we set
:12:59. > :13:03.ourselves is investigated as a matter of course. Two years in,
:13:03. > :13:07.what does the Government's independent reviewer, think of the
:13:07. > :13:10.assessment? It is better than it was.
:13:11. > :13:15.Is it fit for purpose? If it is properly done along the
:13:15. > :13:19.recommendations I made, it will be fit for purpose. Do you believe it
:13:19. > :13:23.is fit for purpose right across the country? Noifplt it is patchy.
:13:23. > :13:30.There will be people, who because we're in the interim period, who
:13:30. > :13:35.will suffer, and I don't like that. Some GPs believe they're left to
:13:35. > :13:40.pick up the pieces when patients fail assessments. I think people
:13:40. > :13:44.who come to me distressed, having been on long-term benefits, for
:13:44. > :13:48.some time with clear unresolveable physical problems, whereby they're
:13:48. > :13:53.going for cursery examinations, very rapidly, and having previously
:13:53. > :13:57.passed happily, are failing the tests and now deemed fit to work,
:13:57. > :14:02.when they're clearly not. Far from saving money, Johnston says the
:14:02. > :14:07.tests are adding to NHS costness poor areas. We're busy at the best
:14:07. > :14:12.of times, and we're now having to fit in more people, whose
:14:12. > :14:16.appointments are more for benefits than the health. The by question is
:14:16. > :14:20.not whether the assessment process is failing sick and disabled people
:14:20. > :14:24.but consequences for some of the people when the decision is wrong.
:14:24. > :14:28.Sometimes it can be financially crippling, sometimes
:14:28. > :14:31.psychologically distressing. But across the country we've spoken to
:14:31. > :14:41.some families who say the consequences for their loveed ones
:14:41. > :14:47.
:14:47. > :14:55.The Hills have been a close family, living near each other. But one
:14:55. > :15:00.person is missing from this picture. Steven Hill worked as a sandwich
:15:00. > :15:04.delivery man, but he'd been having problems to his health. He blamed
:15:04. > :15:08.the early starts, and that's why you're tired and struggling. When
:15:08. > :15:15.he left work he was still tired and still struggling, that's when we
:15:15. > :15:20.first knew. He was referred to tests on his heart, he stopped work
:15:20. > :15:23.and applied for ESA, on his first Work Capability Assessment, wife
:15:24. > :15:29.Denise was by his side. What happened at the first assessment?
:15:29. > :15:34.They did his blood pressure, his heart a, and she says see a doctor
:15:34. > :15:40.as soon as. Steve saw his consultant shortly afterwards,
:15:40. > :15:45.within days he was diagnose with the heart failure. Then his ESA
:15:45. > :15:52.results arrived. Remember it was the assessor who told Steve to seek
:15:52. > :15:56.urgent medical help. He was passed fillet for work. How did you feel
:15:56. > :16:00.when he was OK for work Shocked, because what she'd said, and like I
:16:00. > :16:05.said to him, you have to appeal because you're not very well.
:16:05. > :16:11.won his appeal, but the relief was short-lived. Within weeks he was
:16:11. > :16:16.called back for another assessment, the progress was starting again.
:16:16. > :16:21.got another letter for a medical. I can't couldn't believe it. He got
:16:21. > :16:26.to go for a medical, when he was waiting for a heart operation, how
:16:26. > :16:34.mad is that. The second assessor, seemed interested in Steve's knee
:16:34. > :16:39.than anything else. I said what about his heart. She turned around
:16:39. > :16:47.and said we're not here to talk business bi- his heart, we're here
:16:47. > :16:53.to talk about his knee. The knee is nought aside from his heart. Once
:16:53. > :16:57.again, Steve got zero points. In the report the assessor said
:16:57. > :17:03.disability do you to cardiovascular problems seems unlikely. What
:17:03. > :17:08.effect did that second assessment have on him? He was starting to get
:17:08. > :17:12.to him then. He felt belittleed, he believed doctors are right, because
:17:12. > :17:17.they're medical and professionals. He started thinking, I must be OK,
:17:18. > :17:22.and fit for work, if they're telling me that I am. And moved the
:17:22. > :17:27.car out, as he was taking the Hoover back in the house, that's
:17:27. > :17:34.when he collapsed and had his heart attack and died.
:17:34. > :17:44.Steven Hill died 39 days after found fit for work. I've lost my
:17:44. > :17:54.best friend. A person I ka talk to. Tell me
:17:54. > :18:00.
:18:00. > :18:04.- could talk to. He had to go on signing on and going to doctors, he
:18:04. > :18:10.should have been here, relaxing for his operation, not worrying for
:18:10. > :18:14.notes for this and that the. Between January and August last
:18:14. > :18:21.year, an average of 32 people who the Department of Work and Pensions
:18:21. > :18:31.ruled could be helped back to work, died every week. I have a
:18:31. > :18:31.
:18:31. > :18:37.progressive disease. My brother ATOS Healthcare Government contract
:18:37. > :18:40.is worth a billion pounds and runs until 2015, but much of it is
:18:40. > :18:46.shrouded in mystery. We tried to get hold of the details of the
:18:46. > :18:51.contract, but all they'd give us is a redackive version, they said it
:18:51. > :18:55.was commercially confidentialal. But some people fear the reason so
:18:55. > :19:00.many sick and disabled people failing the test, is because ATOS
:19:00. > :19:05.is working to targets. Both ATOS and the Government strengthen with
:19:05. > :19:11.usly deny any targets exist. Let's be absolutely clear, I do not have,
:19:11. > :19:16.we do not have a financial target, for the reassessment people on
:19:16. > :19:20.Incapacity Benefit or the level of new applications for ESA, which are
:19:20. > :19:25.successful. Absolutely, categorically, unequivocally, there
:19:25. > :19:28.is no financial target. Does ATOS have targets? No they don't. There
:19:28. > :19:35.are no targets, anywhere in the system for numbers of people, to
:19:35. > :19:41.move on to or off benefits. There may be no targets but there are
:19:41. > :19:46.forecasts, showing how many people the DWP expect to come off benefits.
:19:46. > :19:50.ATOS insiders confirmed numbers do seem to matter. If it is accepted
:19:50. > :19:56.someone's too sick or disabled to work they're put into something the
:19:56. > :20:01.support group, with full benefits of �96 a week. Three insiders told
:20:01. > :20:05.us, there's internal pressure to avoid putting too many people in
:20:05. > :20:10.that group. If you were support grouping more than whatever the
:20:10. > :20:14.average is, about 20%, you're notified by your mentor, and if
:20:14. > :20:20.you're castigateing doctors, nurses, phsyios for straying away from the
:20:20. > :20:24.average, that kind of does have the feeling there are indeed targets.
:20:24. > :20:27.Moving people off disability benefits when they've been living
:20:27. > :20:31.on them for years isn't easy. The Government's answer is a work
:20:31. > :20:36.programme, which includes something called the Work Related Activity
:20:36. > :20:41.Group. It is for those, who with support, may be able to work again.
:20:41. > :20:44.One of its architects was Professor Paul Gregg. There are a lot of
:20:44. > :20:49.people who want to work. The disability community as a whole has
:20:49. > :20:55.been strong and sorrowcal in saying, disabled people shouldn't be shut
:20:55. > :21:00.out of the world of work. ESA is hoping they'll move people off
:21:00. > :21:03.benefits and back into work. He is concerned people may be wrongly put
:21:03. > :21:07.into the work related group. There's a question mark, in the
:21:07. > :21:13.sense are there people, who are, inappropriately put into this kind
:21:13. > :21:22.of programme, who really, there is no serious hope or prospect for
:21:22. > :21:29.moving into work. Sharon Thompson suffers from a degenerative disease
:21:29. > :21:34.of the spine and severe osteopour rows sis and osteoarthritis. She's
:21:34. > :21:41.on morphine to ease the pain A lot of people say you have good days
:21:41. > :21:45.and bad days, I don't know, because I'm never out of pain. I was a
:21:45. > :21:50.security officer on plg sites. Sharon's husband is now her full
:21:50. > :21:57.time carer. Going back, nobody ever imagineed their life can change in,
:21:57. > :22:02.a short space of time. After her ESA assessment, Sharon was put in
:22:02. > :22:06.the Work Related Activity Group. What did you think. I was
:22:06. > :22:12.gobsmacked, it wasn't because I didn't want to work. But what work
:22:12. > :22:17.can they give me. When I go to the toilet, my husband has to help me
:22:17. > :22:22.to pull everything down for me and everything back up. You know what I
:22:22. > :22:26.mean, what job can I do with somebody doing that. There are
:22:26. > :22:31.Government schemes which help pay for specialist support in the
:22:31. > :22:35.workplace. But Sharon felt that was unrealistic. She appealed, and won.
:22:35. > :22:41.Then, she was put in the work related group again. She appealed
:22:41. > :22:45.again, and won again. It must seem like a never-ending night mare to
:22:45. > :22:52.you? Terrible. Because it never goes away in your mind. Every week
:22:52. > :22:57.you're waiting for another form to come through. We've had people who
:22:57. > :23:01.had multiple appeals and assessment, that can't be right can it? It is
:23:01. > :23:06.apparent to me, we were calling people back too regularly. I
:23:06. > :23:10.instructed the officials who operate the system to make sure we
:23:10. > :23:14.leave a more sensible interval between the two. What you can't do
:23:14. > :23:20.is go away and we won't talk to you again. This was the problem with
:23:20. > :23:23.the old system. Since ESA was spwre duced, 7,000 people appealed
:23:23. > :23:28.successfully and moved into the support group where it is accepted
:23:28. > :23:32.they're unlikely to work again. There's a perception within DWP
:23:32. > :23:37.there are large amounts of people on disability benefits who just
:23:37. > :23:41.shouldn't be there, and what they're doing is try to find them
:23:41. > :23:48.and weed them out. What is not done enough is to worry about the impact
:23:48. > :23:54.it is having on people's lives depg through the process. Because of the
:23:54. > :23:58.terrible and chronic Fatih I felt, I had to give up work and was
:23:58. > :24:05.medically retired. I used to work in IT. But I had to give it up,
:24:05. > :24:09.because of MS. Now I need help getting out of pedestrian. Dealing
:24:09. > :24:14.with someone's fis disabilities is one thing. But what if they have
:24:14. > :24:17.mental health problems? Well that's something they know all about here
:24:17. > :24:27.at the Maudsley Hospital in south London. In fact they say they're
:24:27. > :24:29.
:24:29. > :24:35.picking up the tab for a system Andy King has buy polar disorder.
:24:35. > :24:40.He was already feeling unwell when told he'd have to be reassessed for
:24:40. > :24:47.ESA. This was a blow actually. I thought I might lose a big part of
:24:47. > :24:53.my benefit, so that kind of was a body blow, and that's what resulted,
:24:53. > :24:58.partially in me being admitted to the Maudely in mid-November. He was
:24:58. > :25:03.catatonic and unable to speak. was told while I was in hospital,
:25:03. > :25:07.they assessed me and put me in the work-related activity group around
:25:07. > :25:12.about December. You were in hospital? Yeah. I was sectioned
:25:12. > :25:17.under the Mental Health Act and they put me in the Work Related
:25:17. > :25:22.Activity Group. The Maudsley has a dedicated welfare team. They appeal
:25:22. > :25:25.the result and won. They say they're overwhelmed in helping
:25:25. > :25:31.people like Andy fight wrong decisions. That's apart from the
:25:31. > :25:34.cost of treating people, who feel they've been driven to the brink by
:25:34. > :25:37.dealing with the system. We're having to call on the resources of
:25:37. > :25:42.doctors and nurses and social workers to put everything
:25:42. > :25:46.altogether to send off. This is all work you wouldn't have done before?
:25:46. > :25:52.Wouldn't have done it before, no. Just going through the assessment
:25:52. > :25:56.can be harrowing for many people with mental illness. We had a lady,
:25:57. > :26:02.she had her care co-ordinator with her. They asked her many things
:26:02. > :26:08.about her illness, our client had taken several overdoses and the
:26:08. > :26:14.assessor said to them "well why aren't you dead?". So the client
:26:14. > :26:22.became distraught at that point. Her care co-ordinator stopped the
:26:22. > :26:27.interview. This is a lady with serious mental health problems?
:26:27. > :26:37.They said if the interview was stopped, they would lose the
:26:37. > :26:43.
:26:43. > :26:50.benefits. We asked the assessors. The Government says the system is
:26:50. > :26:53.being improved. ATOS assessors are retrained and staff at the DWP will
:26:53. > :26:56.rely less heavily on ATOS assessments alone. There's some way
:26:56. > :27:01.to G according to the man who recommended that training. There
:27:01. > :27:05.are areas where it is still not working and yes I'm sorry there are
:27:05. > :27:10.people going through a system which I think still needs improvements
:27:10. > :27:14.and they haven't reached their neck of the woods, or appropriately by
:27:14. > :27:16.these people because they haven't finished their training.
:27:16. > :27:21.Government says despite the difficulties, it is in the end, for
:27:21. > :27:26.the good of people, who are sick and disabled. There are people who
:27:26. > :27:35.don't believe they can work any more, or have options to return to
:27:35. > :27:40.the workplace. We're pushing them through David Cameron described as
:27:40. > :27:44."tough love" because we believe she can. Remember Marie Aldridge, she's
:27:44. > :27:49.placed in the Work Related Activity Group. Marie is delighted and hope
:27:49. > :27:55.she'll get the support she needs to get back in work. Chris had his
:27:55. > :28:00.assessment the same day, but he's waiting for a result. Last week, he
:28:00. > :28:05.started coughing blood and is back in hospital. Meanwhile, up and down
:28:05. > :28:10.the country, tens and thousands of people are struggling with a system
:28:10. > :28:15.they believe is at best frustrating and worse seriously damaging to
:28:15. > :28:20.their health. If a patient, it is awful. For people who have
:28:20. > :28:26.genuinely unwell, have not done anything wrong in their lives to be
:28:26. > :28:33.put through this is despicable. question is now whether the process
:28:33. > :28:38.judging them is itself fit for purpose. Next week, rats, bedbugs