There’s much more to working as a Health Professional (HP) at Independent Assessment Services (IAS) than conducting telephone, video and face-to-face consultations. We also have dedicated teams working in the back office that have a huge impact on the claimant’s experience of the process.
Working with some of society’s most vulnerable people, colleagues in these roles are able to make a lasting difference to claimants’ day-to-day lives. Whether you’re conducting Initial Reviews (IR), completing Paper Based Reviews (PBR), or gathering supporting information from claimants and those involved in their care, you’re empowered to help claimants and make their experience as positive as possible.
Choosing the best route for claimants
Your skills, experience and compassion will be invaluable in making the process clearer and easier for those individuals who engage with us.
You’ll use your analytical skills to determine the best assessment route for claimants. You’ll regularly contact claimants by phone to clarify and investigate specific areas of their health conditions or disabilities, taking additional care of claimants and applying all of your clinical skills in a new environment.
On receipt of an individual’s PIP case from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), an Initial Review, where the HP considers information from the completed PIP questionnaire and any supporting evidence provided along with it, is completed. The purpose of this review, which happens in every case, is to determine whether it’s necessary to carry out a full consultation or a PBR, to provide full and robust advice to the DWP.
In some cases, you’ll determine after a full review, that a telephone, video, or face-to-face appointment is necessary.
Where there’s sufficient evidence on the claimant’s file, you might determine that a PBR is the best route for the claimant. This means they will not need to attend a full consultation.
In other cases, you’ll establish that additional evidence should be gathered from the claimant or professionals listed in the PIP questionnaire as being involved in their care to complete a PBR. You’ll then make follow up calls to claimants and a range of clinical peers across the NHS and private healthcare sector, charities, and support organisations to gather the relevant information. During the course of your day, you might also work on Terminal Illness cases for the most vulnerable claimants.
Choosing the best route for you
We have a structure of support and training in place to help you not only get started, but also build your career with us. As you progress through your career at IAS, you may choose to train to audit your colleagues’ reports to ensure that our high-quality standards are maintained and that we’re putting the right claimants forward for face-to-face and telephone consultations.
As your skills develop, you might opt to support your colleagues through mentoring or progress to a new role in the front office – delivering PIP consultations or in the people team in training, recruitment, engagement or health and wellbeing. Some of our experienced back office HPs have recently progressed to roles supporting new recruits in the training Academy. With continuous support and training from mentors and managers, you’ll equip them with the confidence and capability needed to move into their permanent roles.
Many of our back office HPs enjoy the flexibility of working from home while others choose to develop further, attending face-to-face training to move into a front office role, delivering PIP consultations.
Broaden your clinical knowledge
During the course of every day, you’ll hone your clinical evaluation skills and learn more about a wide range of health conditions.
There will be some time to dedicate to Continuous Professional Development, identifying conditions that might require further study through podcasts, blogs and attending regular in-house training sessions.
Help is always at hand
From day one, you’ll join a team of like-minded professionals at different points in their learning journey, allowing you to develop from each other’s learning experiences and clinical knowledge. Your manager is always on hand to ensure that you have everything you need to excel in your job. You can raise questions about cases, talk about future training you might want and anything you’d like a second opinion on.
IAS Clinical Support Lead in the back office, Helen, comments: “The work life balance, camaraderie, friendliness, benefits and opportunities for overtime are a big draw but it’s the ongoing support that really sets this role apart. I’ve been working now for 42 years and never worked in such a supportive role.”