§ 33. Mr. EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of the performance of the Benefits Agency medical services contract; and if he will make a statement. [142143]
§ Mr. BayleyIn February 2000 the Social Security Committee published a report on Medical Services.
Our response to the report was published on 30 June 2000 (Command Paper No. 4780), and this included four additional targets which we expect Sema to meet:
within six months to reduce the proportion of 'C grade' medical reports which fail to meet the Department's standards by 10 per cent. and within one year to reduce the proportion of `C grade' reports across all benefits to less than 5 per cent;within one year to demonstrate improvement in compliance with the agreed medical scrutiny guidelines for Incapacity Benefit claims so that the proportion of non-compliant reports is less than 5 per cent;within one year to deliver training to all doctors covering: the assessment of people with mental health problems; behaviours, attitudes and sensitivities for dealing with people with disabilities; and distress-avoiding techniques for the examination of people with musculo-skeletal conditions;within two years to improve customer satisfaction rates to at least 90 per cent.The Department is working closely with Medical Services to address these and other issues identified within the SSSC report.
Wide-ranging audit of medical quality standards is being carried out by the Department's Chief Medical Adviser to identify and rectify poor performance.