So many fingers, so many pies.
In response to the esteemed Mr. Twp's posting on Valleys Mam's blog, I offer, for your perusal, a few interesting details of Professor Mansel Aylward's influences on our Health, Wealth and Happiness.
Many of you in the Merthyr area will be aware of a local medical research company called Simbec who are constantly trawling the news media looking for 'guinea pigs' on whom to try various medicines and treatments. In fact, they had a half page advertisement in last night's South Wales Echo.
Merthyr, being labelled the sickest town in the UK, would be an obvious target for such a firm as Simbec. The founder of Simbec was Prof. Aylward, a good old Merthyr boy. He has since sold off the company and has moved on to much greater things.
He retired last year as Chief Medical Adviser to the DWP and spent much of his time there ensuring that the Government target of a million claimants, to be removed from incapacity and disability benefits, is achieved.
During his time at the DWP he was also very closely involved with an American medical insurance company named UNUM Provident.
UNUM Provident, in the USA, have an appalling record of denying legitimate claims, and have been fined many millions of dollars in the Courts for their wrongdoings. Consequently, they have been compelled to make deposits of millions of dollars with the Courts, as security, in order to continue their business, and to pay out any claims that come before the Courts for determination.
UNUM Provident, one of the largest medical insurers in the USA, were described in October 2005 as:
"...an outlaw company, who have acted in an unlawful fashion for many years".
This description was made by John Garamendi, who, at the time, was Insurance Commissioner for the State of California. Mr. Garamendi has since been elected to the post of Lieutenant Governor of California and deputises for the Governor, Arnold Schwarznegger. Mr. Garamendi's credibility is beyond question. Incidentally, UNUM have not sued Mr. Garamendi for his statement.
UNUM Provident were further described as having run "claims denial factories".
Prof. Aylward has been instrumental in introducing the UNUM modus operandi into the DWP and consequently many legitimate claims have been denied by the DWP.
During Prof. Aylward's tenure at the DWP, around 50% of Incapacity and Disability Benefit claims denials were overturned on Appeal. He has been closely examined by Select Committees and has been less than helpful. His activities are currently being closely examined by numerous agencies and many pertinent questions are currently under consideration.
Having introduced UNUM's highly questionable methods of claim denial into the DWP, Prof. Aylward was rewarded by his masters by the opening of the UNUM Provident School of BioPsychoSocial Science at Cardiff Medical School. Naturally, Prof. Aylward was given the Director's job.
UNUM have since expanded their operations into the UK insurance industry and are firmly embedded in the consultative process of the DWP'.
Prof. Aylward was further rewarded by the Assembly, by the opening of the Welsh Centre for Health. No, not a Quango, it's a Government Sponsored Body. Again, naturally, Prof. Aylward was made Director thereof.
He has further interests in the 'rehabilitation' or should I say, compulsion to work, of Disabled and Incapacitated Benefit Claimants as he is now a Trustee of the Shaw Trust, one of the preferred bidders for the Government's Pathways to Work scheme.
Prof. Aylward has been described by Huw Lewis, in the Plenary, as having great "stature and integrity".
I would invite Mr. Lewis' observations on the clear governmental association between the Assembly and a representative of what has been described as an "outlaw company"? Further, would he care to elaborate on Prof. Aylward's "stature and integrity" given the Professor's intimate involvement with such a controversial company?
I hope that these little snippets are useful in enabling readers to appreciate the 'tangled web' that is currently being woven before your very eyes.
Your probing pal.
johnny.
posted by johnny foreigner @ 16:39
19 Comments
19 Comments:
But then, on the other hand:
From 1996 to April 2005 he was Chief Medical Adviser, Medical Director and Chief Scientist to the United Kingdom’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). He was also Chief Medical Adviser and Head of Profession at the Veterans' Agency, Ministry of Defence. He was made a Companion of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2002. In 2001 he was appointed as The Royal Society of Medicine's Academic Sub Dean for Wales.
He is a physician and specialist in rheumatology and rehabilitation, therapeutics and clinical pharmacology; a visiting Professor at several universities in Europe and North America and a consultant to the United States Social Security Administration and Department of Labour. He entered the British Civil Service in 1985 and was appointed Chief Medical Adviser at the Department of Social Security in 1996 and at the Department for Work and Pensions in 2000. From 1974 to 1984 he was Chairman and Managing Director of Simbec Research Ltd, UK, and President of Simbec Inc, New Jersey USA.
He played a key role in development and evaluation of the UK’s medical assessment for incapacity (the All Work Test), and was heavily involved in developing the Personal Capability Assessment (PCA). He led the Corporate Medical Group on the UK Government's Welfare Reform initiatives and made a major contribution in establishing the new postgraduate diploma for doctors in Disability Assessment Medicine. He was closely involved in developing the UK’s successful “Pathways to Work” initiatives and a framework for Vocational Rehabilitation. He is keenly interested in addressing the health, work and social issues relevant to morbidity, mortality, work inactivity and social exclusion in the South Wales Valleys where he was born and brought up. His interests are in rheumatology and rehabilitation, health and productivity, psychosocial illnesses, chronic fatigue syndromes and back pain disability. He has published widely in these various areas.
Nonny, that's a fine piece of cut and paste, none of which is new to me.
Whilst your biography of the good Professor shows much of his eminence, I note that there is no denial of the 'alternative' biography that I have provided.
I ask again, what is this guy doing hanging around with a company who have been described as "outlaws".
Your puzzled pal.
johnny.
thank you for that astute bit of informatiion.
I remember him from my youth when he was regarded by his medical colleagues as a waste of space and were glad to see him go.
All surprised at his rise to "importance"
The more we know about him, the greater the chance of WAG stopping him from messing up health services in Merthyr.
he has been away from main stream medicine for so long he may nort know a bed pan if it hit him in the face
a grateful
Dowlais twp
Only too glad to help Mr. Twp.
Your final paragraph sums it up quite nicely.
Unfortunately, the WAG, or, more correctly, certain people in the WAG, are already aware of the Prof's. activities and prefer to ignore the questionable activities of the Prof's. associates in UNUM.
In fact, UNUM were welcomed to Wales by the WAG and Westminster, as Rhodri and Alan Johnson, the then Secretary of State for Health, were at the opening of the aforesaid UNUM Provident School of BioPsychoSocial Science.
Your perspicacious pal.
johnny.
Johnny
What an interesting hatchet job, and not shy of a a few cuts and pastes yourself, from some very dubious wesbites I might add. Do they have green ink on the interweb? There is something missing from the hatchet job though. Oh, that's right any kind of indication that Aylward is guilty of any wrongdoing. Still who needs facts when you're trashing someone's career?
Nonny @ 11:41.
Trashing of careers? Hardly.
I have merely pointed out certain 'interesting' associations between Mansel Aylward and UNUM Provident.
You accuse me of a "hatchet job" yet you fail to mention the many disenfranchised disability benefits claimants who have endured a "hatchet job" on their lives as a result of Aylward and his cohorts in Medical Services (DWP) ensuring that claims are denied as a result of contractually non-compliant and inaccurate reports.
He has introduced the UNUM Provident method of claims denial into the DWP and has caused much misery in this country.
UNUM's method consists of contradicting previously stated medical opinion on the basis that Medical Services doctors are more skilled than the doctors who treat the patients. These added skills consist of a two day course consisting of fifteen modules. This course then turns 'bog standard' doctors into 'examining medical practitioners' and the arguing commences.
There have been many Parliamentary Questions asked about the activities of Aylward and Medical Services, particularly with regard to the doubtful and questionable medical reports produced by Medical Services.
You are quite correct when you state that there are a number of websites detailing the questionable activities of UNUM Provident, are you claiming that these are incorrect. Do you deny the facts as I have presented them?
I have made it clear that there is a very close connection between Aylward and UNUM Provident, which many, in and out of government, seem reluctant to address. I wonder why?
As my old Grandma used to say:
"You are known by the company that you keep".
Aylward works for a company that has been described as an "outlaw company" by one who has more credibility than most.
Do you deny these facts?
Your pathfinding pal.
johnny.
Huw Lewis: I warmly welcome the involvement of Professor Mansel Aylward in the future of the NHS in Merthyr. You will be aware that I have approached you, and your predecessor, Dr Brian Gibbons, on several occasions about the need to inject some integrity back into the reconfiguration discussions as they affect my constituency and about that independent oversight, to give back the public confidence in the discussions that were under way. For that, you need a person of great integrity and stature, and Professor Mansel Aylward is certainly all of those things. However, I have a few queries. Will you regard Professor Aylward’s recommendations that come out of his deliberations as binding on the new trust? That is important. Will you give a commitment today that no reconfiguration of services or decision about the reconfiguration of services will happen until he has reported—in other words that we will wait and see what Professor Aylward says before any decisions are taken? Might we consider that Professor Aylward could move on, after this work, to oversee the overall reconfiguration of services throughout the whole trust area?
Edwina Hart: I am not certain whether Professor Aylward would be happy if I said 'yes’ to your final point in view of the work that he is also doing in his review of Health Commission Wales, but I understand where these concerns arise, because staff in the Prince Charles Hospital expressed these concerns to me when I met them. Therefore, I will certainly consider them.
As far as I am concerned, nothing should be done in the reconfiguration of services in that area until Professor Aylward has reported, because the whole point of his reporting is to take into account how we view Prince Charles Hospital as being key to some of the issues around southern Powys and emergency services. There is also the question of what we do with that facility in Merthyr that has been promised for so long and how we utilise it to maximum advantage. Therefore, we need to consider Professor Aylward’s review as an opportunity to consider all the issues concerning health in an area like Merthyr. I will be awaiting Professor Aylward’s report and if I accept those recommendations, I would expect the trust to accept them. I do not believe that I can be clearer than that on this point. I am keen to examine all the issues surrounding some of the great underlying health issues in Merthyr, which we can tackle by having a fresh pair of eyes look at them, not just from a trust perspective in terms of services but from a people’s perspective, in terms of the population
itsme:
Thanks for more cut and paste from the plenary of 9th October.
Just what's the point of your response?
Would you care to comment?
Please feel free.
Your pleasant pal.
johnny.
Your alternative post is less hatchet, more ad hominem.
I'm sure this character is a bit of a dodgy fella - most people who get that far up the tree will always have their detractors, but to suggest that his actual work is no good because someone else said a company he had a connection with was a little dodgy, ... Well, its skating on thin ice really!
Should we bring up the fact that Gordon Brown has many ideas in common with Stalin, and so should be arrested before he murders as many people as Stalin? NO!
See? Ad hominem attacks are not the way to go.
Now, if you have a memo or a tape with the words "ahh, those fools, I'm going to make a fortune!" or words to that effect, then you may be on to something, but for now, you are pissing in the wind!!
:)
Nonny:
Not so much ad hominem as absit omen, really.
I merely seek to provide a little balance to the matter of who is to determine the future of the Health Services in question.
Notwithstanding Mansel Aylward's career record, it still does not negate the fact that his association with UNUM Provident has had a significantly detrimental effect on the lives and wellbeing of the many legitimate benefit claimants who have been disenfranchised by his doctors in Medical Services.
A further manifestation of Aylward's questionable judgement is in the contract held between Medical Services and the DWP.
The audit process written into the contract by Aylward, states that, if a medical report is audited and a deficiency is found, the audit ends there and then.
The deficiency is 'reworked' and the audit is then marked as a fully compliant report and is endorsed 'NFA': no further action.
This obviously means that a strong possibility remains, of further deficiencies, and that claimants may be disenfranchised as a consequence.
Aylward has long been away from the sharp end of doctoring and seems to be more concerned with fiscal matters than with the welfare and care of patients.
I am personally aware of many cases which are under re-consideration, as a result of questionable medical reports that have been supplied by Medical Services, under Aylward's direction.
You say.....
"....but to suggest that his actual work is no good because someone else said a company he had a connection with was a little dodgy,"
The 'someone else' was John Garamendi, Insurance Commissioner for the State of California. Hardly 'someone else', IMHO.
Mr. Garamendi's recent ELECTION as Lieutenant Governor of California merely enhances his credibility, particularly when his fiscal responsibilities makes the Wales' budget look like small change.
Further, Mansel Aylward still remains in the pay of UNUM Provident as Director of the UNUM Provident School of BioPsychoSocial Science.
As for your expression "a little dodgy", words almost fail me.
UNUM Provident have been fined many millions of dollars in the US Courts for unlawful claims denial and you consider THAT to be a little dodgy?
Take my word for it, he's up to his neck in this type of activity and on the basis of his record, which some in the Assembly would wish to ignore, I have the gravest doubts that the good people of Wales will benefit from his ideas or opinions. He's more about money than medicine, IMHO.
I must, at this time, note that all the support for Aylward has come from Nonnys and, notwithstanding that support, none have denied the facts as I have presented them.
Your patient pal.
johnny.
just for info young johnny -nuffin more
Young johnny eh!
I haven't been called that for donkey's years.
You've made my day, thanks.
Your precocious pal.
johnny.
Johnny
How about being profiled on my site?
drop me a line: normalmouth@yahoo.co.uk
Don't do it johnny, they're trying to out you.
Too late. I've done it.
No names, no packdrill. Just a few clues.
I love a good mystery. Don't you?
Your profiled pal.
johnny.
yes, I have always wondered why it is a well connected Labour blogger doing the profiles of others in Wales, whilst giving nothing away about himself - so much for a change, Big Brother is watching you, be afraid, be very afraid.
hey johnny, has the solicitor's letter arrived yet?
You're up late Nonny.
Now which solicitor's letter would that be? You'll have to be a little more specific.
Everyone's had a go at me this week.
Your prospectively prosecuted pal.
johnny.
just pulling your leg Johnny
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