Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan D. Gibson announced June 5 actions taken to address the recommendations outlined in the recent interim Office of Inspector General report.

“No Veteran should ever have to wait to receive the care they have earned through their service and sacrifice,” Sloan said in a news release. “As the President said last week, we must work together to fix the unacceptable, systemic problems in accessing VA healthcare. I believe that trust is the foundation for everything we do – VA must be an organization built on transparency and accountability.

“That’s why we will release results from our nationwide audit, along with patient access data, for all medical centers next Monday. The data will demonstrate the extent of the systemic problems we have discovered. The Inspector General confirmed we have serious issues when it comes to patient scheduling and access, and we have moved immediately to address those issues in Phoenix.”

Sloan said the VA has reached out to all veterans identified in the Office of Inspector General’s interim report to discuss individual medical needs and immediately begin scheduling appointments.

“Veterans must feel safe walking into our VA facilities – they deserve to have full faith in their VA,” Sloan said. “We will need the support of all our stakeholders to continue to improve the department. I look forward to working with them all to better serve our Veterans.”