Question to Minister: ACC - Acceptance Rate for Counselling

LYNNE PILLAY (Labour) to the Minister for ACC: Did ACC alert him that the acceptance rate for ACC-funded counselling in the 6 months to 30 April 2010 was 11.9 percent, and, if so, when?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for ACC): No, but the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has kept me regularly informed. The figure is misleading, in that 32 percent of claims are awaiting further medical information for a decision. The main reason for declining claims is that the Accident Compensation Act 2001, which was passed by that member’s previous Government, requires claimants to have a diagnosed mental injury for them to be eligible for counselling, and most do not meet that legal test.
Lynne Pillay: When ACC released updated figures to the New Zealand Herald last week, was it before or after his written reply of Wednesday, 16 June stating he was unable to provide an update on the numbers of people not getting help for sexual abuse crimes, and was this a case of deliberately withholding the ugly and embarrassing truth that in the 1 month of March last year 238 people received ACC-funded counselling, but under this failed new regime, 178 people received counselling in a period of 6 months?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The first point I make in the answer that I will provide the member— and she has asked many questions—is that expenditure this year on counselling for sensitive claims is not significantly different from what it was a year ago or 2 years ago. I am not aware of when ACC specifically had the discussion with the New Zealand Herald, but I have endeavoured to provide comprehensive answers to the many questions from the member.
Lynne Pillay: When did he instruct ACC to stop using the nonsense statistic of less than 4 percent in data categories for sexual abuse, as anyone with a calculator can figure out that in many instances the figure is actually zero, and that deliberate delays and fudgey statistics will never hide the fact that the system is not working, and that sexual abuse experts and survivors tried to warn him of that 8 months ago?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: It has been a long-standing practice in a number of Government agencies, when members ask questions about, for instance, how many claims have been accepted in a region, and there is a very small number, and the agency may risk someone’s privacy, to simply list it as less than 4 percent. I have answered many questions from the member opposite, and I invited the member to meet with Dr Peter Jansen, who is the medical practitioner in charge of that area, and the member simply chose to personally attack the doctor.
Katrina Shanks: What action has the Minister undertaken in response to the concerns of some counsellors, psychotherapists, and others about the clinical decisions of ACC on sensitive claims?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I have been very reluctant to interfere in decisions of a clinical nature, but noting the concerns, I have established an independent clinical review of ACC’s policy and processes, which is being led by Dr Barbara Disley, and is due to be reported back to me next month. I was disappointed that Labour members refused my offer to be consulted on both the terms of reference and the membership of the review, which I believe is the proper and professional way in which to deal with this important and sensitive issue.
Lynne Pillay: Given that Denise Cosgrove of ACC admitted last week that ACC may have moved too swiftly in its failed new process for sexual abuse counselling claims, will he now admit that he has been supporting this atrocity against victims of crime in order to save face, and the truth is that even his claims that general practitioners supported the failed pathway is wearing thin, in light of the publishing of the general practitioners survey in the Christchurch Press today, stating that 70 percent of—
Mr SPEAKER: I say to the honourable member that her question is highly marginal. I was going to allow it, even though she has made allegations in a question that are totally outside the Standing Orders, but she cannot go on any further. I invite the Minister to answer what she has asked so far.
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I refer the member to the statement from the College of General Practitioners last year, in which it indicated support for the clinical pathways—
Lynne Pillay: No, no.
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: It was provided by Massey University, and I would be happy to seek leave of the House to table that statement. I further say to the member that I have been reluctant to interfere, and rightly so. I really think it will be a slippery slope if we have clinical decisions being made by Ministers of the Crown, let alone in an area that is as sensitive as that of support for those who have suffered sexual abuse.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1006/S00370.htm