HL Deb 05 June 1996 vol 572 cc1248-9

2.47 p.m.

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why employees who suffer from the prescribed industrial disease C3, exposure to organophosphates, are not treated equally in different parts of the United Kingdom when they claim industrial injury benefit.

Lord Lucas

My Lords, we have no information to indicate that that is the case. Claims for industrial injuries disablement benefit in respect of prescribed disease C3 are dealt with under the same rules throughout Great Britain. The procedures for diagnosis and assessment of disablement from prescribed diseases are laid down in legislation.

The Countess of Mar

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that I know of about six cases in which industrial injuries disablement benefit has been allowed for claimants? Is he further aware that Benefits Agency Medical Service doctors and the statutory authority doctors will often openly admit that they know nothing about OP poisoning and that claimants presenting with a history of exposure to OPs and with medical evidence which corroborates peripheral nerve damage and psychiatric damage are totally set to one side? I receive letter after letter and I have then to write to the Benefits Agency Medical Service, from which, I must say, I get a tremendous amount of co-operation. Can the Minister please ensure that all the doctors involved are well aware of the chronic effects of OP poisoning on people's health?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, the doctors involved should be aware of the chronic effects of acute organophosphate poisoning. They receive special training to do the work that they carry out for the Benefits Agency. Organophosphate poisoning is clearly part of the prescribed disease, C3, and should be something with which the doctors are familiar. If it is becoming apparent to the noble Countess that that is not the case, I should be grateful if she would correspond with Ministers as well as with officials.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham

My Lords, we welcome the Minister's assurance on that. Does he agree that there appears to be some evidence that different doctors in different parts of the country are responding to similar cases in different ways and that, as a result, some people with the same symptoms are getting benefits while other people in other parts of the country with the same symptoms are not? If that is the case—and the noble Countess appears to have evidence to suggest that it is—may we have the Minister's assurance that he will take up this matter and try to ensure, either through guidance or whatever, that doctors treat similar cases in similar ways?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, I quite agree with the noble Baroness that people with the same disease should be treated in the same way. Organophosphate poisoning is a difficult disease to diagnose because the symptoms are various and they are shared by many other conditions. However, it should not be the case—certainly not in this very specialised and additionally-trained service—that there is a wide disparity in the way in which doctors report in relation to industrial injury benefits. If we receive the information which the noble Countess may have on this matter, we shall certainly take it seriously.

The Countess of Mar

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his co-operation, as always. I shall be writing to him.