Research links additional 590 suicides and 725000 antidepressant prescriptions over three years to impact of work capability assessmentTougher “fit for work tests to assess eligibility for disability benefit may beget taken a serious toll on mental health in England,according to a study that linked the tests to 590 extra suicides and hundreds of thousands of additional antidepressant prescriptions. In what is believed to be the first research of its kind to examine the mental health impact of the work capability assessment (WCA) in England, experts said there could be “serious consequences” of the policy to scurry people off benefits, and which they said had been introduced without any evidence of its potential impact. Related: 'Fitness to work' assessments are brutal,says daughter of man who killed himself Related: -The DWP’s fit-for-work tests are a national catastrophe | Clare Allan Related: Distressed, ashamed and hopeless – the experience of being fit for work’ | Dawn Howley Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com