Citizens who have little or no interaction with an agency may find it difficult to identify the services and programs they can avail of to meet their needs. UA provides a triage process which can be used to quickly identify a citizens needs and can direct them to community services and government programs. For example, a client may have an immediate need for food and shelter for his or her family. Triage will quickly identify these needs and provide details of suitable services, service providers and programs to help meet those needs.
A citizen can perform triage at any point in time but is normally used when a citizen has an emergency need and they are not familiar with the services and programs they can avail of i.e. It may be their first interaction with an agency. Citizens who have had previous interactions with an agency and are aware of how their needs can be met may screen or apply for programs.
This chapter outlines the features of triage in UA which allows citizens to quickly identify services and programs to meet their needs.