The Social Welfare Appeals Office is not involved in the arrangements for the examinations carried out by my Department's medical assessors. Medical examinations of claimants are arranged by the medical review and assessment section of my Department at 69 centres throughout the country. Medical assessors conduct examinations in local offices of the Department, Government offices, health centres and, in towns where there is a lack of suitable accommodation, hotels. Every effort is made to ensure that the accommodation used is suitable for the carrying out of medical examinations. These venues are continually monitored with a view to providing good standards of comfort and privacy and, while the quality may vary between one venue and another, my Department receives very few complaints in this regard.
Currently there are 21 medical assessors employed by my Department, including the Chief Medical Adviser and the Deputy Chief Medical Adviser. They are recruited via the Civil Service and Local Government Commission and a condition of their appointment is that they must have at least six years experience in general medical practice. Their role is to assess disability benefit claimants to ascertain if they satisfy the prescribed medical criteria for the various illness related schemes operated by my Department and to provide a second medical opinion for the information of deciding and appeals officers. It is the policy of my Department to ensure, as far as possible, that only people who are fit to attend are called for examination. In this regard, before a claimant is called, a report on a claimant's current medical condition is sought from the person's own doctor. In the course of medical examinations the medical assessor will have available to him or her all relevant and available medical information, including the initial medical diagnosis, supplemented, where appropriate, by relevant specialist and other reports. Where considered necessary, there is provision for the Chief Medical Adviser to seek specialist consultant advice in a particular case. Any information provided by the claimant is also taken into account.
I am satisfied that claimants are treated in a fair and reasonable manner having regard to the need to ensure that the conditions for entitlement to disability payments are upheld.
