Nurse-led welfare benefits screening in a General Practice located in a deprived area

Abstract

Objective To evaluate a nurse-led attendance allowance screening service in General Practice. Design Intervention study. Setting One General Practice located in two sites in deprived areas in the East-End of Glasgow (Carstairs Deprivation Index—6 and 4). Participants Participants aged >64y who in the nurses clinical judgment appeared to be physically or mentally frail were opportunistically recruited over a 12-week period by community nurses (health visitors, district nurses and practice nurses). A Welfare Rights Officer (WRO) contacted all potential underclaimers by telephone and offered a home visit in order to assess for unclaimed benefits. Main outcome measure Total unclaimed attendance allowance and linked benefits. Results Thirty-seven of the original 86 participants plus four relatives were found not to be claiming the benefit payments that they were entitled to. Referral to the Department of Social Security (DSS) revealed unclaimed benefits to a total of: • £112 893.00 • of this £95 306.00 is on a recurrent annualised basis and £17 587.00 as lump sums. Conclusions A community nurse-led attendance allowance screening service combined with a home visit by a WRO was an efficient and highly effective model for maximising the income of the frail elderly. This model could contribute to reducing the increasing number of pensioners living below the poverty line.