department of social and family affairs annual report 2006 - Welfare.ie

goal 4: coverage, access and entitlement
employment of a claimant or a spouse in the case
of working age schemes. It is expected that the
Group will issue its report in early 2007.
> OBJECTIVE 4
Ensure that, for entitlements that are wholly or
partly medically based, the arrangements for
medical examination and assessment are of a
high standard and are applied in a consistent and
effective way.
In 2006, over 33,000 medical examinations and
73,000 desk check reviews were carried out.
> Options for more flexible working
arrangements for scheduling and
undertaking medical reviews
The function of the Medical Review and
Assessment Service (MRAS) unit is to confirm the
eligibility for illness, disability and carer schemes,
based on medical certification and reports
provided by the claimant’s medical practitioner,
or based on medical examination undertaken by
departmental Medical Assessors.
An organisation review of the service commenced
in October 2005 and was concluded in April 2006.
The main recommendations in the report related to:
• The future structure of the service including
arrangements for the appointment of Medical
Assessors and the arrangement of medical
assessment centres with a view to maximizing
efficiency and providing a better service to
customers.
• The development of a computerised case
management system to support Medical
Assessors, medical certifiers and administrative
staff to reduce the current reliance on largely
paper-based systems;
• The redesign of business and medical processes,
including the development of medical
examination protocols and performance
management systems for medical assessors and
certifiers.
> OBJECTIVE 5
Deliver (and support the delivery of) a quality,
comprehensive and up-to-date information service
to internal and external customers, other state
agencies and the wider voluntary and community
sector.
> Information Services Strategy
The Department’s Information Services Strategy
2003-2006 has as its primary purpose the
provision of comprehensive and accurate
information in a clear and easily accessible
manner to customers, employers, staff and
external partners. The following developments
took place in this regard:
a) Plain English
In 2006, the Department’s “Plain English” policy
continued to be applied with the assistance
of the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA)
thus ensuring the use of plain English in all
information material to customers.
Information Services are working with NALA
to produce a ‘style guide’ to assist staff when
communicating with customers.
b) Service in Irish
Approximately 80% of the main social welfare
information leaflets and application forms were
translated into Irish at the end of 2006.
c) Advertising
A pro-active approach was taken again in 2006
to advertising the Department’s schemes and
services. This was done through a mix of national
and provincial media, information leaflets, fact
sheets, posters, direct mail shots and advertising
in over 60 Credit Unions nationwide. LoCall and
Freephone services were also used to provide
information on new schemes and services at
particular times of the year.
A nationwide awareness campaign to promote
and encourage take up of the Family Income
Supplement (FIS) was undertaken and included
advertising on television, on national and local
radio and in national and regional papers.
42