2 June 2005
This is the dire warning on the cover of the Guidance for Examining Medical Practitioners:
"The copyright in this work is vested in Atos Origin UK Ltd and the information contained herein is confidential. This work (either in whole or in part) must not be modified, reproduced, disclosed or disseminated to others . . ."
Well, it’s not confidential anymore and it’s about to be disclosed and disseminated in a big way.
Several weeks ago Benefits and Work obtained a copy of the guidance using the Freedom of Information Act. We’ve since being trying to get permission to publish the guide on the site and questioning the legality of a document used in the process of making DLA decisions not being freely available. Now, it seems, the DWP have bowed to the inevitable and you can download your own copy of Guidance for Examining Medical Practitioners from the DWP website, (but it may take some time to download as it’s a 115 page Word document) .
Amongst other useful information, the guide contains extracts from the Impact contract which sets out what makes an EMP report fit or unfit for purpose.There's lots of valuable stuff in the guide - we'll be bringing it to your attention over the coming weeks without, we hope, reproducing or disseminating in a way that Atos Origin will find distressing.
Meanwhile if anyone can explain the kipper logo that's plastered all over the guide, we'd be very grateful.
