Significant progress has been made in implementing the recommendations made after the performance audit conducted by the State Audit Office of Latvia on the provision of publicly funded technical aids during a year. The results of the assessment confirm that the Ministry of Welfare and the Vaivari Technical Aids Centre (Vaivari TAC) in particular have made several improvements such as digitalised referral for receiving technical aids, facilitated repeated receipt of prostheses, revised waiting list and warehouse management, and work is being done to expand the possibilities of receiving technical aids without a face-to-face visit. The State Audit Office of Latvia welcomes the achievements, as these changes improve the accessibility of the service and help to move closer to the goal of reducing waiting lists and making the service faster and more convenient for people by 2028.
“This example shows that audit recommendations are not perceived formally but are used as a basis for real changes by providing tangible benefits to people. The accomplished so far proves that if an audited entity has a genuine motivation to develop the function entrusted to it and a strong national dignity, the recommendations acquire practical significance and changes can be achieved in a relatively short time. Moreover, such cooperation eliminates pointless correspondence about processes because the recommendations have clear performance indicators, which give all parties involved confidence that changes are really happening,” emphasised Ms Maija Āboliņa, Council Member of the State Audit Office of Latvia.
The most significant achievements during the year:
- Digitalised medical opinion for receiving technical aids. From 1 January 2025, opinions can only be drafted electronically in E-veselība (e-health) by ensuring that they include complete and regulatory information.
- Repeated receipt of prostheses has been facilitated by waiving the requirement to submit a new medical opinion each time. From 1 January 2026, this applies to 35 types of prostheses (excluding sports prostheses). These changes will make it easier to receive the service for approximately 300 people each year.
- Complete digitalization of service administration has been launched, which will allow connecting waiting lists with the warehouse automatically, improve communication with customers and reduce the volume of manual processes in the future. Service administration has already been digitised in “Latvian Association of Blind People” and “Latvian Association of Deaf People”.
- An opportunity has been found to deliver functional beds, mobile lifts and other bulky aids to a person’s place of residence. Until now, these aids were only issued in person at the Vaivari TAC, and the person had to find a solution for their delivery to their place of residence, including assembly. The possibility of also delivering other technical aids to a person’s place of residence, by mail or parcel machine, is being assessed.
- A mechanism has been created for receiving special modified technical aids that are not included in the basket of state-funded aids by determining the procedure for assessing needs and determining compensation and providing for the possibility of covering costs up to 20,000 euros.
The State Audit Office of Latvia completed audit “Are publicly funded technical aids provided according to the needs of the target group and in the best possible way?” at the end of 2024 by concluding that the provision of technical aids to residents was not organised in such a way that they were received in a timely manner and as close to their place of residence as possible. The problems were not in the financing of the service but in the process itself.
Work on the implementation of the recommendations continues, and the next progress assessment is scheduled for early 2027.
About the State Audit Office of Latvia
The State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia is an independent, collegial supreme audit institution. The purpose of its activity is to find out whether the actions with the financial means and property of a public entity are legal, correct, useful and in line with public interests, as well as to provide recommendations for the elimination of discovered irregularities. The State Audit Office conducts audits in accordance with International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI (ISSAI), whose recognition in Latvia is determined by the Auditor General. Upon discovering deficiencies, the State Audit Office of Latvia provides recommendations for their elimination, but it informs law enforcement authorities about potential infringements of the law.