Social Security Medical Board: Appointment of Medical Board Practitioner

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A decision made 21 November 2011 regarding:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2011-0096
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Appointment of a Medical Board Practitioner		Date of Decision Summary:	21 November 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Manager - Pensions and Health		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Appointment of a Medical Board Practitioner		Date of Written Report:	21 November 2011
Written Report Author:	Manager - Pensions and Health		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Social Security Medical Board – Appointment of Medical Board Practitioner
Decision(s): The Minister approved the appointment of a medical practitioner to undertake medical boards as provided for under the provisions of Article 6 of the Social Security (Incapacity Benefits) (Jersey) Order 2004
Reason(s) for Decision: A pool of appropriately qualified doctors is required to ensure that the Department can assess benefit entitlements in a timely manner.
Resource Implications: There are no additional resource implications with this appointment.
Action required: No further action is required.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Social Security Medical Board: Appointment of Medical Board Practitioner

REPORT

The Social Security (Jersey) Law 1974 (as amended) defines the requirement for a claimant in receipt of Incapacity Benefit to submit periodically to a medical board at the request of the Minister. The medical board must consist of one or two medical practitioners nominated by the Minister.

The medical board must determine:

The effect of the illness in respect of which that benefit is claimed

The duration of the award i.e. when it would be appropriate to review for continued incapacity to work.

The department requires a pool of appropriately experienced doctors appointed to ensure that medical boards are undertaken and benefit claims assessed in a timely manner.

The Minister for Social Security approved the appointment of Dr Roger Thomas to undertake the role of a medical board practitioner under article 34 of the Social Security (Jersey) Law 1974 in July 2011. This ministerial decision extends the remit of Dr Roger Thomas to also assess incapacity benefits under the Social Security (Jersey) Law 1974.

Dr R Thomas

Dr Roger Thomas qualified as a doctor in 1973 and after a career in General Practice joined the Department for Work and Pensions assessing claimants for State Benefits and for the past 20 years providing medical policy advice to the Department where he is a Senior Medical Adviser. He has wide experience of developing and of the operation of functional assessments and has been responsible for the medical guidance issued to UK Decision Makers. He is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research, Cardiff University and has advised Finnish insurance services and the Irish Republic on disability issues and their assessment.