There are currently 25 Medical Assessors employed in my Department, including the Chief Medical Adviser and the Deputy Chief Medical Adviser. Of this number, 3 were appointed this week. All of the staff in question serve on a full-time basis.
A public competition was held to appoint additional Medical Assessors in 2012 and my Department is liaising with the Public Appointments Service with a view to appointing a further 5 Medical Assessors at the earliest opportunity.
The role of the Medical Assessor is essential in assessing and reviewing illness related claims. I am very pleased that the Department received sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to increase their number thereby enabling the Department to deliver a better service to our customers.
Details of the number of Medical Assessors serving in the Department in March in each of the past 5 years are shown in the table below:
Year
|
No. of Medical Assessor Posts
|
2008
|
19
|
2009
|
22
|
2010
|
24
|
2011
|
24
|
2012
|
23
|