Does a nurse have to be registered?

pamela1962

Good afternoon everyone
I recently had a assessment for PIP and the nurse told me she was an A&E nurse. It turns out that she is not registered, as I have checked with the nurses council . 
Do they have to be registered to carry out assessments? 
Thank you

cristobal

I'm fairly confident that nurses only have to be registered in order to practice, not to do administrative work...

It may be that when she said that she 'was' an A&E nurse that is correct - she used to be one but isn't now!

pamela1962

But they still examine you so I would have thought they should be registered. 
But you are probably right that they don't have to be.

Antonia_Alumni

Welcome to the community @Pamela1962

Thank you for sharing this with us. I believe so, but I may be wrong. Some of our members may be able to help you with this.

cristobal

@pamela1962 .....I've just found this in the DWP guidelines.....

HCPs must "be fully registered with the relevant licensing body (doctors must have a licence to practise)"

pamela1962

Hi thank you that's great 

Benistmonk

If you read about the case of the Tattooist who was doing body modifications, he is up in court at the moment partly because he is not registered with the GMC and has no medical qualifications. So the law thinks people should be registered, but not the DWP, they are quiet happy to use reports from people who are unqualified in most if not all medical matters.

Put the DWP in the dock with the Tattooist Brendan McCarthy I say.  

pamela1962

I used the correct name in the search and also checked with the NMC . The name of the nurse was on the back of the report..... There was no error. Therefore I disagree with you.

Benistmonk

ilovecats said:

The DWP used fully qualified and registered assessors. If the OP cannot find the nurse on the register it is likely because he isn't searching the correct name.

You say that but we don't know that for sure. The one thing I do know for sure is, he HCP report I got had no name on it, I think one of the reasons for that is, the HCP is not registered with the GMC or nurses council, she is a physiotherapist. Now what qualifications does a physio have to assess medical conditions? none whatsoever!

So don't tell me the DWP uses "fully qualified" medical staff, if anything they use the least medically qualified staff and in my case a physio with no medical qualifications at all.

Benistmonk

So a physio is more qualified than my GP, is that what you are saying?

Benistmonk

It is nice to speak to someone on the other side of the fence. Ok, last question, is a physio qualified to assess mental health?

Benistmonk

It worries me that you think GP's are rehashing what a patient thinks the symptoms are, when that is not how the system works at all. When a patient sees a GP for x y z problems, the GP prescribes various medications for those conditions. When there is no improvement, the patient is referred to a specialist. The specialist will confirm if said condition exists and prescribes medication more suitable for that condition, the specialist will also tell the patient whether the condition can be cured or not, usually not.

Then along comes someone to assess you who believes your GP is simply repeating what you told your GP, the assessor ignores the mountain of medical letters you sent in, or does not see them as they are often removed from the ESA50, and you are left scratching your head wondering why you got 0 points.

Benistmonk

That is the new fangled way of looking at it, if I used the same criteria that you use, I could walk into any hospital and declare 90% of the patients fit for work. 

poppy123456

When i recently filled in a PIP review form for my daughter on the front of the form it had 2 lists of what to send and what not to send... on the list of what they didn't want to see was a letter from a GP as evidence. Why? well a letter from a GP is mostly patient lead because a GP spends very limited amount of time with a patient and doesn't know enough of how their conditions affect them against the PIP descriptors. A GP will only know what you tell them, which means it's patient lead.

The only information a GP can give is what medication they take, a diagnosis if any and any appointments they've recently had. So, i agree with ilovecats.

Benistmonk

My GP has known me for many years, hardly what I would call a limited amount of time. I also pointed out it is not just your GP's opinion that counts. If my GP was to write a letter on my behalf, it certainly wouldn't contain my personal opinion, what would be the point of that? When I ask for a letter from my GP, I expect it to contain information about diagnosis made in reference to my health conditions. 

Yadnad

Benistmonk said:

My GP has known me for many years, hardly what I would call a limited amount of time. I also pointed out it is not just your GP's opinion that counts. If my GP was to write a letter on my behalf, it certainly wouldn't contain my personal opinion, what would be the point of that? When I ask for a letter from my GP, I expect it to contain information about diagnosis made in reference to my health conditions. 

OK put it another way to turn the tables round. If you took along a print out of all of the PIP descriptors together with the guidance manual as to what each descriptors means and handed it to your GP do you seriously suggest that he/she would not only know about you to that extent that they could identify which descriptor applies, explaining why it does, giving a couple of examples of what happened in your life and then producing evidence to back up those answers without having to ask you any questions? I doubt it. Does my GP know that I used to fall off the toilet when cleaning myself, does he know how far I can walk reliably, does he know how I manage to dress and undress myself, does he know what happens when I try to get out of the bath without me having to tell him any of the answers beforehand?
I doubt it. He doesn't see me except at the surgery maybe 3/4 times a year so would have no idea about how my life is impacted UNLESS I tell him.
Than that becomes 3rd hand information - my patient says...…...not worth the paper it is written on as it is not based on something that he has seen evidence of it happening first hand.

Finally having a diagnosis means nothing to anybody - in fact you can get a PIP award and have no diagnosis.

cristobal

@Benistmonk -I wonder if you might be missing the point here? I think that most people, and this probably includes HCPs assessing PIP, will accept a diagnosis that GPs make. But that's not what PIP is about - it's about what impact a condition has on you.GPs are exactly that - general practitioners. They know a little bit about lots of things.

I didn't put anything from my GP when I started my claim..... for the very reason the @poppy123456 has just said which is he would be telling you what i'd just told him.

More useful - in my case and I suggest in most cases- was a report from a specialist Occupational Health consultant. he made no diagnosis - he accepted the word of other clinicians - but he did explain exactly why I could no longer carry out certain functions and, consequently, why I could not continue in employment. 

Interestingly his report has very little mention of "He told me this" because it is based almost exclusively on his own examination and opinion.....

Benistmonk

Yadnad said:

OK put it another way to turn the tables round. If you took along a print out of all of the PIP descriptors together with the guidance manual as to what each descriptors means and handed it to your GP do you seriously suggest that he/she would not only know about you to that extent that they could identify which descriptor applies, explaining why it does, giving a couple of examples of what happened in your life and then producing evidence to back up those answers without having to ask you any questions? I doubt it. Does my GP know that I used to fall off the toilet when cleaning myself, does he know how far I can walk reliably, does he know how I manage to dress and undress myself, does he know what happens when I try to get out of the bath without me having to tell him any of the answers beforehand?
I doubt it. He doesn't see me except at the surgery maybe 3/4 times a year.

Lets put it another way, don't be silly, GP's have real jobs, they are not lackys for the DWP.

Benistmonk

ilovecats said:

I believe you just keep missing the point. I have explained everything clearly and fear that no matter what anyone says you will stick to your point of view.

Correct, now do I qualify?

poppy123456

Benistmonk said:

ilovecats said:

Correct, now do I qualify?

Based on a report from a GP, no.

Benistmonk

I think this thread has been very informative, so if hijacking is what it takes to get the correct info, then long may it continue.