The third quarterly update on NSW state insurer icare’s improvement program has been published by independent assurer Promontory Australia.

The improvement program was set up following the McDougall Review and the PwC Governance, Accountability and Culture (GAC) review early last year.

The reviews made a set of recommendations to strengthen icare's culture, governance and accountability framework, upgrade icare's risk awareness, risk management and risk capability, and bring about a greater focus on customer outcomes.

icare is addressing the recommendations through the improvement program, which consists of 65 initiatives.

“The recommendations represent an ambitious and far-reaching program of change,” icare says.

CEO Richard Harding says the latest report is “positive”, but much work remains.

The report says icare has commenced or completed work on the Design Phase for all initiatives, and commenced or completed work on the Implement Phase for two-thirds of Initiatives.

icare has commenced or completed work on activities within the Embed Phase for 45% of initiatives.

Mr Harding says he agrees with Promontory on the need to continue to identify simplification opportunities within the program.

"This aligns perfectly with our corporate vision, which is to make the complex simple so we can deliver better outcomes for people and communities," he said.

The update notes key roles have been filled and icare has increased the level of specialist resources assigned to dependency management.

Click here to read the report.