Tag Archives: malcolm harrington

Mark Pack

Malcolm Harrington: proposals will be of “considerable benefit” to cancer patients

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th December 2011 - 6:59 pm

During the week we ran a post criticising the government’s response regarding cancer patients to the Harrington review. Subsequently Malcolm Harrington, author of the eponymous review, has in a letter to The Guardian given a different view from that given in both the post and the paper’s own coverage of the story:

This issue is an incredibly important and sensitive one for many people. Contrary to your article, I believe the government’s proposals would significantly improve on the current system and would be of considerable benefit to those who face the real personal challenge of a cancer diagnosis and

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
George Potter

Opinion: Government must not force work activities on Cancer patients

By George Potter | Wed 7th December 2011 - 11:55 am

The main form of financial support for the long term sick and disabled is the Employment Support Allowance (ESA).

Once upon a time, cancer patients undergoing radio or chemotherapy intravenously were placed in the support group of ESA where they received unconditional support. However, those receiving radio or chemotherapy orally were placed in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA where they were forced to attend work related interviews and complete other work related activity or face having part or all of their support withdrawn.

My mother died of cancer. A large part of her treatment consisted of oral chemotherapy. Oral because …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 24 Comments
George Potter

Opinion: Our Parliamentarians must fight for our benefits policies

By George Potter | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 4:46 pm

It was rather disappointing last week reading Jenny Willot MP’s article on LDV last week about the Harrington report and about the motion on the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) which was unanimously passed at autumn conference.

The article seems to imply that, by accepting the Harrington recommendations, the government is complying with the ESA motion and that a big round of applause is in order. We spotted a problem, passed a motion about it and then our ministers and MPs fixed it. Job done right?

Well, no. Despite that being what the article seems to imply, the situation is far from resolved.

By fully …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 11 Comments
Jenny Willott

Jenny Willott MP writes: Harrington – better assessments, better outcomes

By Jenny Willott | Thu 24th November 2011 - 3:24 pm

At our Conference in September, the Liberal Democrats unanimously supported a motion calling for changes to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which accompanies it.

Speaker after speaker stood up to condemn the system left by Labour which subjected sick and disabled people to an ineffective, demeaning assessment process that was not fit for purpose. Many will remember the powerful speech by Shana Pezaro who condemned the WCA process as ‘utterly failing many people’.

The motion welcomed the first annual review of the WCA by Professor Malcolm Harrington, and the progress the Coalition Government has already …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 13 Comments
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