House of Commons - Public Accounts

Select Committee on Public Accounts Twentieth Report

2 Modernising the Agency's processes

9. The Agency's casework on claims is entirely paper based and files are moved frequently depending on the stage in the process a claim has reached.[17] The Agency maintains two computer systems which cannot communicate with each other—its War Pensions Computer and its standalone Welfare Service system.[18] The paper based nature of the Agency's operations and the maintenance of these systems together represent a significant impediment to long-term real improvements in the Agency's customer service and efficiency.[19] The Agency was preparing a preliminary business case for investment in IT systems which would deliver improvements in customer service and efficiency. It expected its preliminary business case to be completed by December 2003, taking account of implementation of a similar electronic system developed in Australia and with advice from the Ministry of Defence. Asked about what advice it was seeking to manage the project the Agency said that it would be working closely with those who manage IT development within the Ministry of Defence.[20]

External validation of medical decision-making

10. The level at which war pensions payments are set is determined by the level of disablement of claimants assessed by the Agency's doctors.[21] Assessments of eligibility for awards and the level of disablement are made by the Agency's medical team supported by lay staff, informed by medical examinations carried out by Schlumberger, a private sector company, on behalf of the Agency.[22]

11. Arrangements for checking the quality of the Agency's medical decision-making consists of peer review by the Agency's medical service and a degree of external checking, introduced in April 2001, by the Ministry of Defence to provide independent validation of the quality monitoring system. Although some 4% of medical decisions were found to be of unacceptable quality from its sample of checks, the pension awarded is not changed unless the assessment has been made in the absence of a material fact.[23]

NHS Net

12. The Agency has considered the potential benefits of using NHS Net, the National Health Service's own data network, that would enable it to access General Practitioner and hospital records electronically. It had not yet quantified the benefits although the potential savings for the Agency and its clients could be significant in terms of reduced waiting times for medical records and reduced administration costs, with concurrent savings for the National Health Service.[24] The Agency had reached agreement with the NHS Information Authority to have the same level of access to patient records that clinicians would have, and expected to have access to these records as soon as they were available on-line.[25] The Agency hoped that this would make the access to veterans medical records almost instantaneous, although only new patient records would be placed on NHS Net and sometimes the Agency needed older information.[26]

The Agency's helpline

13. The Agency operates a freephone helpline which handled 418,284 calls in 2001[27] of which 11.4% were lost calls.[28] The Agency admitted that it was unaware that this compared poorly with standards in the insurance industry, and was also unaware of how its performance compared to other government call centres and the recommendations of our own report on the subject.[29] Since its call centre is small the Agency said it was difficult to match the number of people working to the volume of calls received, but when faced with additional demand such as the major announcement on ex-gratia payments for Far Eastern Prisoners of War, the Agency was in a position to double its capacity to match the increased volume of calls expected.[30] The Agency also sought to broadcast its freephone number widely so that the general public could call to find out about entitlements to awards.

17 C&AG's Report, para 2.21 Back

18 Q 192 Back

19 Q 82 Back

20 Qq 83, 192-193 Back

21 C&AG's Report, Figure 6 Back

22 Qq 109-111 Back

23 Q 39 Back

24 C&AG's Report, para 2.7 Back

25 Qq 75-76 Back

26 Qq 78-79 Back

27 C&AG's Report, para 2.45 Back

28 Q 103; Lost calls are where a caller either discontinues after hearing the ring tone or does not speak to anyone during the call. Back