Employment and support allowance

I have just returned from an ESA medical for my son and felt I needed to post what happened.. My son is on ESA on mental health grounds and after asking a variety of questions, he was then told that the nurse was going to carry out a cognitive test..... she had three items in front of her through the whole medical and pushed them foorward on the dest and asked him to look at the items..... she then moved them over to the other side of the computer screen (where they were still very visible)
and asked another question, she then asked my son to remember the items she had put in front of him, I looked at his face and the first thing he did was glance at the items still in view and then repeat them.She then said thats good.... I questioned the way this test was done and said that surely these items shoud have been removed out of site and not been there the whole time either...and questioned if this was the correct way to carry out this test..... Could someone advise if they have heard of this before as this seems totally unfair.
Thank you

Mara Ox wrote:

I have just returned from an ESA medical for my son and felt I needed to post what happened.. My son is on ESA on mental health grounds and after asking a variety of questions, he was then told that the nurse was going to carry out a cognitive test..... she had three items in front of her through the whole medical and pushed them foorward on the dest and asked him to look at the items..... she then moved them over to the other side of the computer screen (where they were still very visible)
and asked another question, she then asked my son to remember the items she had put in front of him, I looked at his face and the first thing he did was glance at the items still in view and then repeat them.She then said thats good.... I questioned the way this test was done and said that surely these items shoud have been removed out of site and not been there the whole time either...and questioned if this was the correct way to carry out this test..... Could someone advise if they have heard of this before as this seems totally unfair.
Thank you

yes its right if he was suffering from the right illness to be checked liked that and no if he has a Mild cognitive impairment he should have been shown them then they hide them and ask him to name them later on. if he has certain learning problems then still being in sight would have been right to see if he knew where to look for them ..

did they ask him to draw a clock face ? or name a list of cars animals or veg or flowers ???

Thank you for your reply...No learning problems, just problems with memory and concentration stated on form. So my understanding is correct they should have hid them away.. .Would this assesement be similar to assements done in memory clinics when people start to suffer with short term memory loss? as they tell you three words and then ask you to recall....?

Mara Ox wrote:

Thank you for your reply...No learning problems, just problems with memory and concentration stated on form. So my understanding is correct they should have hid them away.. .Would this assesement be similar to assements done in memory clinics when people start to suffer with short term memory loss? as they tell you three words and then ask you to recall....?

yes for memory problems the correct test is they give you three words then tell you a short story and ask him to tell it back a couple of other tests then go back to the three words or in this case objects

your GP should be able to refer to memory clinic .. before going they would do blood tests chest ray and ecg
a report from there would be whats best and good evidance too IMO

Thank you.... I was really trying to establish if she had carried out this test correctly and fairly, as I felt she hadnt.

Hi Mara

You can download the ESA handbook from the members area which details the guidance given to the healthcare professionals, but I don't think there are any strict tests that they are trained to apply. It's up to the HCP to use their judgement, or misjudgement, as the case may be.

If the form you filled in has the activity 'memory and concentration' then your son must be undergoing the old WCA test. The descriptor applies to memory and concentration problems that prevent the claimant from successfully managing their day without verbal prompting, so I don't think that test on it's own would be anywhere near sufficient. If anything it was more of an eye-sight test!

I have to say that the majority of tests that they use, such as the TV test (trap) are misguided and result in poor quality assessments.

I hope your son passes the WCA but if he doesn't, make sure you obtain the medical report to see what reasons are given.

Good luck

Derek