Social Services Promises Faster Services
|
Click to Listen Now
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Frankie Campbell says while there may be some “bumps in the road” initially, the end result will be greater efficiency, effectiveness and speed of service delivery
“You keep hearing (that) people don’t want to go online, but the truth of the matter is that the opportunity to do so is the very thing that will give them the speed of service they are asking for,” Minister Campbell says.
He acknowledges that the initial implementation of digitization has hampered services at the ministry.
“There will be bumps in the road initially, because we are trying some new things, but those bumps aren’t because we don’t care, they are because we are trying to change some things and there is sometimes resistance to change. (But) What we are attempting in the Department of Social Services is to add efficiency and effectiveness and speed to the services that we provide.”
Minister Campbell says as part of the plan for greater efficiency, the twenty-three Urban Renewal Centres across the Bahamas will be made ‘hot spots’: this will ensure that clients who need assistance, and may not have access to devices or Wi-Fi at home, can gain the social services support they need, through online means — by visiting the Urban Renewal Centres. This, he says, will help to facilitate the digital transformation underway at the Ministry and the Department of Social Services.
“We are aware that there are some persons who just won’t be able to do it now and so we will be providing assistance for those persons by providing Wi-Fi service at all of the Urban Renewal Centres. Team members from the Urban Renewal Centres already help to comprise our IT Team and so those clients who do not have the requisite devices or Wi-Fi service at home, will be able to visit our Centres and receive assistance,” Minister Campbell says.
“To further facilitate this initiative, we are also putting individuals in place who will serve as hosts and hostesses so that persons who do show up to a social services centre seeking assistance can be guided through the online process in a matter of minutes,” Minister Campbell adds.
