Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which Department for Work and Pensions disability assessors are qualified to make judgements in relation to people living with thalassaemia and sickle cell disease.

All Healthcare Professionals carrying out assessments are medically qualified and highly-trained practitioners in their own field. They are subject to a rigorous recruitment process followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment.

The assessment is not a medical assessment requiring the Healthcare Professional to diagnose a condition and recommend treatment options. The focus is on ensuring Healthcare Professionals are experts in disability analysis with knowledge of the likely functional effects of a wide range of health conditions.

While preparing to undertake an assessment, Healthcare Professionals can access a wide range of clinical resources to research any medical conditions that they are unfamiliar with. In addition, they read in detail any further evidence that has been supplied by the claimant’s GP or specialist clinical team.