Survey for the ACC sensitive claims 18 month review

An email from Kyle MacDonald

Dear Friends,
This email relates to a survey for ACC Sensitive Claims Providers ("Counsellors") and clients. If you are neither, I apologise for taking your time. Please feel free to read no further and delete this email.
The last step of the Independent Clinical Review of the ACC Sensitive Claims Treatment Pathway is nearly upon us, namely the 18 month follow up review. As part of that process representatives of the various professional bodies will be meeting with Barbara Disley, the review's lead author in late March to discuss how ACC are going with implementing the changes mandated in the initial review report.
As part of my role as the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists (NZAP) representative I am circulating a survey open to all Sensitive Claims treatment providers and clients. All individual responses are anonymous, and it will only take about 5-10 minutes of your time. See this link for the survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VVXGXXS
Please take the time to complete this survey, your responses are important and it will be the last chance we all have to give feedback to ACC before the review is officially completed. The survey will be closed midnight on Friday March the 9th.

Kind regards,
Kyle MacDonald
www.psychotherapy.org.nz

Time is right to protest via social media sites

An article from the Sunday Star Times by Kyle McDonald

The past 12 months have been a great time for protesting. Internationally, Time magazine made The Protester its Person of 2011. And it's not surprising really. We are more connected to each other globally through our use of social media sites than the human race has ever been. The Arab Spring and the Occupy Movements have used the tremendous mobilising power of Facebook, Twitter and blogs to easily locate people who agree with their cause, publish their point of view, and organise large global protests.
Here in New Zealand it is a little different, granted. But regardless of the reason, judicious use of social media is a great way to connect, become involved and – if you believe something strongly enough – take a stand.
In the past three years a relatively small part of the health sector has been close to destroyed under John Key's watch.
The provision of treatment and support for victims of historical sexual abuse and adult rape has been funded and administered by the Accident Compensation Corporation since 1974. However, in 2009, under pressure from the National government to reduce funding and future liabilities, ACC staff, with help from some very clever people at Crown Law I'm sure, changed their interpretation of the legislation specific to "Sensitive Claims" to enable them to dramatically reduce the availability of funding for this very necessary service.
How necessary?
In New Zealand approximately one in four women, and one in six men, will experience sexual violence in their lifetime. That's pretty high. It also means someone you know has likely been directly affected.
So if you feel strongly about this sort of thing how do you protest and influence government in Aotearoa? If you're reading this in New Zealand there is a 50 per cent chance you're on Facebook or at least have heard of it.
What you may not have heard about however was just before Christmas a small group of dedicated staff at a small counselling agency called HELP, in Auckland, managed to get the government to provide funding at the 11th hour, in a little over a week, by skilfully leveraging the immense power of social media and, more specifically, Facebook.
The Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP service has been around since 1982, with the primary mission to support women who have been raped. It is primarily a crisis service, like a psychological ambulance. It helps them through the process, from the initial crisis call, to reporting, police interviews and medicals. Pretty essential, and no other part of the health or mental health system offers it. They're it, really, in Auckland.
So when the Auckland Sexual Abuse Help service needed funding to keep its crisis line open, thanks to an ongoing struggle to secure funding, certainly not aided by ACC's withdrawal of funding in 2009, it started an online petition and a Facebook page, and members asked everyone they knew to circulate it.
When they reached 7000 signatures, appeared on breakfast television to explain their plight, and organised a protest in downtown Auckland in the first five days, it became apparent that they had a lot of friends. However, the part that made the difference was to make it personal.
It was John Key's government, and so you should ask him to change it. Directly. He has a public Facebook page, so tell him there. And so on the petition site they posted a link to take you directly to his page.
Over the course of Thursday and Friday, his page was bombarded with thousands of pleas to fund the Helpline, enough that Key was asked to comment in a press conference on the Friday. This was only a week after launching the petition. I hope it kept his staff very busy.
Late in the afternoon on Friday the government, via the Ministry of Health, announced it had secured a funding reassurance for a further six months, and a commitment to secure long-term funding beyond that.
That is what you can do with Facebook. Not just post photos of your cats. You can also have a say in how the country is run. The Protester in our New Zealand context needs only a laptop, an internet connection and some friends. It's easy to forget that we all have the power to change things and that our collective apathy is the real enemy.
Otto Van Bismarck said that "politics is the art of the possible". However, I believe it's a sad indictment that the only way to get politicians to do the right thing is to make doing the wrong thing politically impossible.
Or is that just democracy in action?

© Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/columnists/6257552/Time-is-right-to-protest-via-social-media-sites

The (new) face of ACC

A blog post from Bulldust Over a Kiwi BBQ by Gunner Thane

With the changing of the guard in National (Nick Smith relinquishes ACC to Judith Collins) and the re-election of Carmel Sepuloni in Waitakere, are we to expect a change of fortunes for the under fire ACC?
To put things in perspective about ACC, I know personally four people that have dealings with ACC, three in the Sensitive Claims Unit (SCU). Now two of that three also have major issues with ACC and the way they do business. One was sued this year by Dr Peter Jansen, and now another has had problems with ACC faxing out her personal file to three (at least) agencies that have no dealings with this person, i.e. a breach of trust and security.

Click here to read the rest of this post.

http://rednaz1958.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/new-face-of-acc.html

ACC SCU provider update - November 2011

http://www.acc.co.nz/PRD_EXT_CSMP/groups/external_providers/documents/reference_tools/wpc096628.pdf

Election 2011: Southern candidates answer questions

An article from the Otago Daily Times

Star reader Joy Hayward writes: "Since ACC changed its criteria in October 2009, the number of people seeking therapy has significantly dropped and the number of people turned down for therapy has significantly risen. What measures will your party take to ensure that victims of sexual abuse have the opportunity to receive therapy to enable their recovery from abuse?"

RESPONSES

"The National Government's decision to restrict access to the ACC scheme has severely impacted the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. This has made it hard for many people to get support services for sensitive claims. Labour will improve the medical assessment and vocational independence processes so there is a fair, balanced and consistent approach to assessing claims. Labour will review National's changes to the ACC scheme."
Clare Curran
MP and Labour candidate for Dunedin South

"'Health is a state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease.' (World Health Organisation) Health focuses not just on te taha tinana (physical) but also te taha wairua (spiritual), te taha hinengaro (mental and emotional) and te taha whanau (social - family and community) and the interconnectedness of these dimensions. Sexual abuse is something that affects its victims in all those areas, so we will ensure that victims of sexual abuse will receive treatment by directing ACC to do so."
Shane Gallagher
Green candidate for Dunedin South

"ACC's role is to help support victims, and those who have suffered a mental injury under Act as a result of a rape or sexual abuse are still entitled to make claims. However, the failing of a public system like ACC is that the demands on it are often greater than its resources, and it is difficult to target the right services to the right people. Opening up ACC to competition would ensure providers are better able to give the services we require."
Kim Hannah
Act candidate for Dunedin South

"New Zealand First ACC policy will ensure that the victims of violent crime are appropriately covered by ACC and the health system. One of our 15 fundamental principles states that health will cease to be a balance-sheet item and health will be a critical investment in New Zealand's human resource."
Randall Ratana
New Zealand First candidate for Dunedin South

"The Alliance would make sure that everyone who sustains an injury, whether physical or psychological, receives the treatment they need to enable their recovery. We have anecdotal evidence that many people with a range of injuries have not received appropriate treatment due to ACC cost cutting. However, the Alliance is also concerned with the discrepancy in treatment for people who are incapacitated due to illness rather than accident. We would work towards a more equitable treatment for all people whose lives are seriously impaired by health issues."
Kay Murray
Alliance candidate for Dunedin South

"We do not believe the issue of providing therapy for victims of sexual abuse is one that should be provided for through ACC but rather by provision based on a restorative justice system whereby convicted abusers (and all prisoners indeed) should be in work schemes linked to a production-based return, the proceeds of which are credited into a funding system for all victims of crime. Any shortfall would be Government-funded."
Warren Voight
Democrats For Social Credit candidate for Dunedin South

"It seems to me that sexual abuse doesn't readily come under the concept of accident, that modern definitions of sexual abuse cover the most serious crimes through to incidents of no consequence, that it is an area widely abused by fraudulent claims. Serious crimes like rape etc have become vastly more common with sex education in schools and the promotion of sexual immorality. That is what we are fighting. And modern therapy is of doubtful benefit to the victims."
Robert Wansink
Restore All Things in Christ candidate for Dunedin South

"No policy on this specifically. United Future proposes establishing a truly independent committee to review appeals against ACC decisions. This committee would have the power to make recommendations to the government should it find flaws that regularly lead to unfair decisions. I would advocate for sufficient treatment for sexual abuse victims."
Pete George
United Future candidate for Dunedin North

"No one should be turned away when they need help. We support free and supportive care for all victims of sexual abuse. Longer prison sentences need to be given to their attackers."
Julian Crawford
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party candidate for Dunedin North

© Allied Press Limited 2011

http://www.odt.co.nz/election-2011/candidates/186890/election-2011-southern-candidates-answer-questions?page=0%2C0