Sick and disabled people being assessed by doctors who have never spoken to them

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. He said NowMedical's assessment of her case was “irrational” and that the council's view was “tainted” for having relied upon these reports.​ In another case a year later, the Court of Appeal overturned a decision to reject a priority-needs claim by a homeless refugee family, made on the grounds that the mother suffered depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, after NowMedical had concluded there was “nothing to suggest her condition of particular severity”. Judge Parfitt said the council’s approach, “formed directly from the NowMedical opinions”, was “fundamentally flawed”, adding that it “might have helped” had someone from the medical firm “taken the time to see the appellant or indeed considered her medical records”. And it is a very useful, arms-length, quick and cheap way to protect your case workers from the trauma of having to make these decisions on people’s lives.” Victoria Pogge von Strandmann, a public law solicitor at Simpson Millar, said there was a similar system in the Home Office, and that despite the “limitations” of NowMedical's reports, the department “just seems to follow it blindly”, regardless of what other evidence there might be. Stephen Hale, chief executive of Refugee Action, said it was “vital” that the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people were properly evaluated before important decisions were made about their future, adding: “It’s appalling to see the consequences of vulnerable pesople being let down by the current system.” A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office procured the services of NowMedical to provide independent medical advice, which is required to assist case workers making decisions on the suitability of accommodation and ability to travel.