Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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505. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of times in each of the past five years that her Department has required a claimant or, in the case of carer's allowance, a relevant person, to attend or submit to a medical examination as provided by the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46174/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Medical Review and Assessment system is the principal control mechanism for all illness and disability schemes administered by the Department of Social Protection. Medical Assessors carry out desk assessments of medical evidence/reports supplies by customers and where required, conduct in-person assessments in order to provide a second medical opinion for the guidance of Deciding and Appeals Officers. All assessments are carried out in accordance with the accepted guidelines of the Irish Medical Council.

In considering the medical evidence at desk, opinions regarding eligibility are made on a case by case basis. It is always open to the Medical Assessors to call a customer for an in-person assessment, if considered appropriate.

In the past five years (see Table 1) the Department has scheduled a total of 267,760 in-person medical assessments across the various illness and disability schemes including claims, appeals and reviews.

Table 1 – Number of In-Person Assessments Scheduled 2008-2012