Sexual violence counselling boost

A report from Radio New Zealand News

The Government has announced a $10 million funding boost in next month's budget for specialist sexual violence services.
Social development minister Paula Bennett says the increase will provide immediate stability for specialist services to help address current funding shortfalls. Ms Bennett says the sector requires extra resourcing, especially for making 24 hour, seven-days-a-week crisis call-out and emergency counselling services available. She says the money will be used to support frontline crisis-response and community-based treatment services, as well as male victims and those accessing medical and forensic services.
A Parliamentary inquiry is currently looking into the funding of specialist sexual violence services.
Ms Bennett says she couldn't wait for the outcome of the inquiry.
"The need is so great now, to be honest I'd done a lot of work on my cabinet and to get them to this point, there was no way I was going to delay them for another six months!
"I knew I had a shot of getting a bit of money in this year's budget so I was going to grab it with everything I had."
The Parliamentary inquiry has been told the sector is severely under-resourced and has lost about $6 million a year since changes to ACC in 2011 when it cut funding for sex abuse counselling.

Funding welcome
A rape prevention trust says the Government's funding boost will help stop the loss of trained staff from the sector.
Executive director of Rape Prevention Education, Kim McGregor says the sector has been underfunded for many decades. She says there's been a high level of burnout and it's been difficult to hold on to specialist trained staff.
Ms McGregor says the extra funding will help stabilise the sector in the short-term.

© Radio New Zealand 2014

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/242981/sexual-violence-counselling-boost

Alarm over depression therapy cuts - corrected article

An article from the Herald on Sunday by Sally Webster

Funding for talk therapy is drying up just as increasing numbers of New Zealanders are feeling comfortable talking about their problems.
The country's biggest income protection insurer, Sovereign, says claims for depression have reached a crippling 40 per cent and the cost of counsellors it sends clients to "out of the goodness of our hearts" can't be sustained. It will recommend more clients do exercise and take medication.
Government departments have also reduced the counselling services they have offered for years. Free relationship counselling services offered by the Family Court are about to be axed; the Ministry of Social Development is tightening up on the extensive counselling it offers the mentally ill on the disability allowance. The ceiling on therapy sessions may be cut from 16 to as low as four.
Some of the cutbacks, particularly Sovereign's, have alarmed the Association of Psychotherapists' chair of public issues, Kyle MacDonald. He says they are being done simply to save money.
"We are up against the massively funded model of the drug companies who convince people that medication is the best treatment, despite evidence to the contrary for mild to moderate depression."
Sovereign's chief medical officer, John Mayhew, says it has decided that where antidepressants have been proven to work well, it is "efficacious" for them to be used.
"In the past we've had, say, a 50-year-old stockbroker with an income protection product who's become severely depressed.
"The first thing we'd do is get him seen by a psychiatrist, get a diagnosis and then start treatment. That might be a mixture of psychotherapy, medication and an exercise programme. But now we've decided a talk therapist isn't necessary for everyone.
"A guy whose wife has just left him might be depressed and struggling to cope but it doesn't mean he necessarily has to see a counsellor.
"Anti-depressants like SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) are proven to work."
The Ministry of Justice is gutting its free relationship counselling. The Court Proceedings Reform Bill before Parliament will kill off the remaining three hours' free relationship counselling for couples. That was halved from six in 2012.
Justice Minister Judith Collins says the ministry has no idea of the outcomes of counselling sessions.
These will be replaced with six separation mediation sessions, free to 60 per cent of users who fall under the civil legal aid threshold. Those above it will pay about $780 + GST a couple, or $390 a person. Those talking separation will be advised to pay for their own counselling, though judges can still order it be paid for if things get as far as the Family Court.
The squeeze on therapy has angered comedian and Nutters Club founder Mike King, who has had well-documented battles with addiction and mental illness.
"The reason I had talk therapy was because I was overwhelmed with suicidal thoughts.
"As much as the whole therapy thing went against everything I stood for, I was faced with death as the only option - I had to try it for my family's sake.
"I can say from experience that talk therapy absolutely works. But few people can afford it.
"We don't need less talk therapy. We need to be working with the Government and insurance companies to find ways for more people to get affordable or free therapy."
MacDonald of the psychotherapists association says that at its most basic, the choice is coming down to the cost of a pill versus $120-plus for a session of talk therapy.
"People are given medication as the frontline treatment - usually SSRIs - after just 15 minutes of consultation," MacDonald says.
"It is often not an effective form of treatment but people are getting this as the only option.
"We must find the reasons people are depressed and this is what therapy is for, otherwise it is likely to recur."

© Copyright 2013, APN Holdings NZ Limited

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10904336

Alarm over depression therapy cuts

An article from the Herald on Sunday by Sally Webster

Funding for talk therapy is drying up just as increasing numbers of New Zealanders are feeling comfortable talking about their problems.
The country's biggest income protection insurer, Sovereign, says claims for depression have reached a crippling 40 per cent and the cost of counsellors it sends clients to "out of the goodness of our hearts" can't be sustained. It will recommend more clients do exercise and take medication.
Government departments have also reduced the counselling services they have offered for years. Free relationship counselling services offered by the Family Court are about to be axed; the Ministry of Social Development is tightening up on the extensive counselling it offers the mentally ill on the disability allowance; and ACC is doing a major review of how it handles those who come to it with sexual abuse and assault trauma. The ceiling on therapy sessions may be cut from 16 to as low as four.
Some of the cutbacks, particularly Sovereign's, have alarmed the Association of Psychotherapists' chair of public issues, Kyle MacDonald. He says they are being done simply to save money.
"We are up against the massively funded model of the drug companies who convince people that medication is the best treatment, despite evidence to the contrary for mild to moderate depression."
Sovereign's chief medical officer, John Mayhew, says it has decided that where antidepressants have been proven to work well, it is "efficacious" for them to be used.
"In the past we've had, say, a 50-year-old stockbroker with an income protection product who's become severely depressed.
"The first thing we'd do is get him seen by a psychiatrist, get a diagnosis and then start treatment. That might be a mixture of psychotherapy, medication and an exercise programme. But now we've decided a talk therapist isn't necessary for everyone.
"A guy whose wife has just left him might be depressed and struggling to cope but it doesn't mean he necessarily has to see a counsellor.
"Anti-depressants like SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) are proven to work."
The Ministry of Justice is gutting its free relationship counselling. The Court Proceedings Reform Bill before Parliament will kill off the remaining three hours' free relationship counselling for couples. That was halved from six in 2012.
Justice Minister Judith Collins says the ministry has no idea of the outcomes of counselling sessions. These will be replaced with six separation mediation sessions, free to 60 per cent of users who fall under the civil legal aid threshold. Those above it will pay about $780 + GST a couple, or $390 a person.
The squeeze on therapy has angered comedian and Nutters Club founder Mike King, who has had well-documented battles with addiction and mental illness.
"The reason I had talk therapy was because I was overwhelmed with suicidal thoughts.
"As much as the whole therapy thing went against everything I stood for, I was faced with death as the only option - I had to try it for my family's sake.
"I can say from experience that talk therapy absolutely works. But few people can afford it.
"We don't need less talk therapy. We need to be working with the Government and insurance companies to find ways for more people to get affordable or free therapy."
MacDonald of the psychotherapists association says that at its most basic, the choice is coming down to the cost of a pill versus $120-plus for a session of talk therapy.
"People are given medication as the frontline treatment - usually SSRIs - after just 15 minutes of consultation," MacDonald says.
"It is often not an effective form of treatment but people are getting this as the only option.
"We must find the reasons people are depressed and this is what therapy is for, otherwise it is likely to recur."

© Copyright 2013, APN Holdings NZ Limited

webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iJjMd0-8B5kJ:www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm%3Fc_id%3D1%26objectid%3D10904336+&cd=1&hl-a

Help for rape victims under threat

An article from Stuff by Kirsty Johnston

Rape and sexual assault victims in Auckland may lose access to the city's only 24-hour helpline due to a funding shortfall.
The HELP Foundation will be forced to lay off specialist staff and cut services after the Government refused it $200,000 to keep the line going, spokeswoman Aimee Stockenstroom said. News of the shortfall came despite a commitment from the Government to work closely with HELP to establish a sustainable telephone service for the future in December 2011.
"For victims of sexual assault and rape, the potential to suffer devastating mental health consequences is high and early intervention must be seen as a survivor's right," Stockenstroom said.
HELP takes about 12,000 calls a year from victims of sexual assault and rape, or around 250 calls a week. Stockenstroom said one in five women were sexually assaulted or raped in their lifetime.
"It is not ethical, and shocking for us to think in the middle of the night when the terror can be the most overwhelming, there will no longer be someone there at the end of the phone."
Green MP Jan Logie said it was appalling it had only taken the Government a year to renege on its commitment to the helpline. Logie said while sexual violence reporting rates were increasing, the Government was not reflecting that in its funding, despite widespread acknowledgement that the services were vital.
"In 2009, the Taskforce for Action for Sexual Abuse identified the urgent need to increase funding to support services," she said.
"This has not happened and now even the current meagre resources are being reduced."
Previously, the help line was funded by ACC, however that was axed in May 2009. Interim funding was provided until last year, when a cross-agency group comprising the Ministries of Justice, Social Development, Health and ACC was set up to discuss a long-term solution.
Stockenstroom said HELP wanted to continue to work with the Government but simply could not continue without enough money.
More information can be found on www.helpauckland.org.nz.
The foundation is also taking donations at any branch of ASB bank. A donations account will run from 12 October 2012 through to 26 October 2012. The account number is ASB: 12 3205 0175 043 00.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7819530/Help-for-rape-victims-under-threat

ACC culture must be more fair and open

An editorial from the New Zealand Herald

The need for a culture change at the Accident Compensation Corporation has prompted the departure of the chairman, two board members, the chief executive and several officials. With the decks cleared, much of the responsibility for turning the ship around will lie with the board appointees announced by the ACC Minister, Judith Collins, this week. Unsurprisingly, the interim chairwoman, Paula Rebstock, will reprise her fix-it role at the table's head for the next three years. Other new appointments see Trevor Janes in the deputy chairman's chair and Professor Des Gorman and Kirsty McDonald, QC, on the board.
Ms Collins says these choices "underline the Government's commitment to genuine culture change, and will lead to a more balanced and comprehensive approach to the governance and operation of ACC". It is on that basis that the appointments will be scrutinised. Labour's ACC spokesman, Andrew Little, was quick to talk of "a sharp lurch to the right" and to zero in on Professor Gorman. The professor, head of the Auckland School of Medicine, had, he said, been a senior medical adviser to the ACC for many years, and "given some of the most retrograde advice on claimants' files I've known".
He said the professor had been the subject of many complaints over his advice about occupational overuse syndrome in the 1990s.
That raises questions about the precise nature of the culture that will be implanted at the ACC. The first priority, in the wake of the privacy breach which saw details of 6700 ACC claimants emailed to Bronwyn Pullar, is no longer said to be cost containment. Rather, it is trust and confidence. But the criticism of Professor Gorman over OOS advice has had a recent echo in the stricter enforcement of the ACC's policy of declining to pay for surgery for "pre-existing conditions". To save money, the ACC seized on age-related degeneration of claimants' bodies to unjustifiably reject their claims for surgery after an injury.
On appeal, too many rejections of such claims were reversed. Understandably, this led to accusations that the ACC was too hard-nosed. The corporation, after an internal review, conceded as much, yet comments this year by the previous chairman, John Judge, suggested nothing much had changed. The ACC was still not getting the balance right in its decision-making.
An early task for Ms Rebstock must, therefore, be to respond to the criticism of Professor Gorman's appointment and to spell out exactly what it signifies. When the stricter policy for pre-existing conditions was introduced, there was no public notification of why it was necessary or how it would be applied. That lack of transparency is not sustainable. More broadly, the new culture must include a clear explanation of exactly where the ACC is headed under the new board.
The corporation should be involving claimants' surgeons more in its decision-making and applying extra expertise where necessary. It should also be explaining the reasons for its decisions more clearly to people. The "almost cavalier" attitude identified by official inquiries into the Pullar case cannot continue. But the changes to the way the ACC approaches its job, notably in keeping costs under control, should be kept in proportion. There can, for example, be no question of unworthy claims for surgery being approved with few questions asked.
The lessons of the Pullar case are that the ACC must be more sensitive, fair and open in its dealings with people. That culture change will not have to be as drastic as that needed at the top level to achieve it.

© 2012 APN Holdings NZ Ltd

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10832252

Damning reports show Government’s role in ACC dysfunction

A press release from the Green Party by Kevin Hague

Reports into ACC provide the most compelling evidence yet that the Government’s focus on saving a buck has caused ACC to lose sight of its role in helping injured and vulnerable New Zealanders, the Green Party said today.
Following requests from the Green Party, reviews into the Bronwyn Pullar Privacy breach and ACC board governance were conducted by the Privacy Commissioner and the Auditor General. Reports on both were released today.
“They reveal a corporation in desperate need of a culture change which the Privacy Commissioner stated must ‘start at the very top’,” Green Party ACC spokesperson Kevin Hague said.
“The reports cite the previous ACC minister’s focus on denying claimants every dollar he could as driving the culture at the corporation.
“And they show that ACC was prepared to sustain human casualties in its drive to achieve the Government’s goal.
“The current minister must now lead the top level change that’s been called for.
“The reports reveal a corporation bumbling along with archaic ideas about communication and responsibility which meant it failed both to treat claimants with decency, and to recognise enormous risks to the organisation even when they hit it in the face,” Mr Hague said.
The Auditor General expresses concern that serous ‘accusations of systemic illegality and fraud were not taken seriously by the corporation’.
And the Privacy Commissioner highlighted ‘an almost cavalier attitude towards its clients and to the protection of their private information’.
“These are two of the most damning reports on a Government entity I’ve ever read.
“It is clear that if board chairman John Judge had not already resigned, he would have been sacked today,” Mr Hague said.
The reports highlight three key issues:

1. As a result of Nick Smith's direction to prioritise ACC's bottom line, the organisation had inadequate focus on the needs of its clients;
2. The culture policies and systems of the organisation are a chaotic shambles that are not fit for purpose;
3. Restoring public trust and confidence is an essential goal and will require very major change starting from the top.

“Given the seriousness of the findings, the Minster must now request that the Auditor General bring forward her review into claims management at ACC. Most of the serious claims Ms Pullar made appear not to have been considered by the board.
“What’s now needed is for visionary leadership to turn this organisation around and focus on the original principals on which it was founded.
“The Minister must ensure that future appointments to the board are up to this task,” Mr Hague said.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1208/S00337/damning-reports-show-governments-role-in-acc-dysfunction.htm

Call for bipartisan agreement on ACC

An article from the Otago Daily Times by John Gibb

Only a bipartisan political agreement about how ACC will operate in future can ultimately restore the public's trust and confidence in the corporation, Dunedin ACC campaigner Dr Denise Powell says.
Recently-released figures showing rapidly dropping numbers of Otago long-term ACC claimants over the past year and growing review applications by claimants challenging ACC decisions were a "wake-up call" over ACC's future, Dr Powell said.
"It's like a line in the sand," she said.
"It's reached the point where the person in the street is asking what's going on."
Otago Daily Times inquiries show the number of long-term claimants in Otago fell more than 15%, from 1199 on June 30 last year to 1014 at the equivalent date this year. This was the biggest one-year change in long-term Otago long-term claimant numbers for at least five years.
ACC officials recently said "long-term claimants" had been receiving weekly earnings-related compensation for a year or more. The number of reviews of ACC decisions sought by Otago-based claimants rose at least 5%, from more than 430 on June 30 last year to more than 450 at the same stage this year, other figures show.
Dr Powell said the community's faith that individuals would receive their fair entitlement under the scheme had been badly shaken, and ACC had been used as a "political football" for too long, including during recent cost-cutting.
ACC figures indicate national long-term claimant numbers fell more than 3600, or 25%, to about 10,626 over the past three financial years. Government officials have also highlighted the need to maintain the scheme's financial viability.
ACC officials say the national "long-term claims pool" has been reducing for several reasons, and improved "focused rehabilitation" by ACC within their first year of weekly compensation payments meant fewer people were becoming long-term claimants.
At an Institute of Actuaries of Australia conference in Brisbane late last year, a New Zealand actuary who has worked closely with ACC, said there was "constant tension between the two sides of politics" in New Zealand, which was reflected in the ACC scheme. Labour governments typically increased access to benefits, but this had been "to some degree reversed" under National, since 2009, given concerns about ACC finances, the actuary said.
In a recent letter to the ACC board, accompanying the latest service agreement signed between the Government and ACC, ACC Minister Judith Collins emphasised the need for the board and management to "rebuild" public trust in ACC and ensure individual claimants received their fair entitlements. She also expected the board to "monitor carefully the numbers and outcomes" of claims disputes, and wanted to see "more disputes resolved satisfactorily" without the need for formal independent resolution.
Dr Powell noted that a broad agreement between the Government and the Opposition had developed about the way much of the KiwiSaver superannuation scheme was operating. If public trust in ACC was to be restored, as Mrs Collins had sought, an agreement between New Zealand's main political parties about how ACC would operate in future was ultimately needed, she said.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/221091/call-bipartisan-agreement-acc

© Allied Press Ltd 2012

ACC 'cold blooded' to victims

An article from the Sunday Star Times by Danya Levy

A survey around sensitive claims and the treatment of sexual abuse victims has raised more questions about the Accident Compensation Corporation.
It comes as a senior manager's comments are being interpreted as confirming there was pressure from the board on staff to dump sex abuse claimants.
Allegations ACC had turned from rehabilitating clients to saving money have seen three board members, including chairman John Judge, and chief executive Ralph Stewart, quit.
Now, the man behind the survey of 146 health professionals and 72 abuse victims, psychotherapist and blogger Kyle MacDonald, says there has been a "cold-blooded" directive from the board to look after the "bottom-line" regardless of the cost to victims.
In 2009 ACC reinterpreted the rules around sensitive claims so a diagnosed psychiatric illness was required to determine mental harm. That left many people ineligible for help, and led to a public outcry.
A year later former ACC Minister Nick Smith urged the corporation to adopt recommendations from a review, but MacDonald says the survey shows only two have been adopted, five have not been, four have returned mixed results, and another four were not being measured. Now a transcript of a presentation by claims general manager Denise Cosgrove last November acknowledges the sensitive claims changes "didn't work so well", and appears to confirm ACC was removing "low-hanging fruit and easy gains" from the scheme.
"I get that constant message from the board every day," he said.
Green Party ACC spokesman Kevin Hague said the survey showed there was "wilful resistance" to the call to improve, and, because there was a "culture of disentitlement", the board should be replaced. Labour's Andrew Little said: "They will say it is legitimate to minimise costs, but the whole basis of ACC is treatment, compensation for the bulk of your losses and rehabilitation."
An ACC spokesman said MacDonald was only one of those giving feedback and there would be no comment until a final report, which was "imminent", but Cosgrove's comments referred to system improvements, not claimants.
MacDonald dismissed that. "It's hard to interpret in any other way than referring to specific cases and claims."
He said the issue for claimants was ACC refusing to accept the advice of clinicians working with victims, and insisting they be interviewed by its own assessors. "You are required to report intimate and distressing detail to a complete stranger", which had an "incredibly detrimental effect".
"There has been a very intentional aim of getting the longest and most expensive claimants out. It's cold-blooded. What has become clear is that ACC is being directed from ministerial and board level to focus on the bottom line and that has been at the expense of sensitive claimants."
A spokeswoman for ACC Minister Judith Collins said board comments were a matter for the board but the minister expected ACC to check claims veracity carefully and to treat all professionally.

SURVEY

Counsellors
40.4 per cent say ACC has done "very little" to protect client safety
37.8 per cent say ACC has done "very little" to protect client therapeutic relationship
42.5 per cent say ACC has done "very little" to implement changes

Claimants
29.3 per cent say ACC has "not at all" protected their safety
38.1 per cent say ACC has "not at all" protected their therapeutic relationship
50.6 per cent say ACC has "not at all" implemented changes

© 2012 Fairfax New Zealand Ltd

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/7117501/ACC-cold-blooded-to-victims

Low hanging fruit

A blog post from Off the Couch by Kyle MacDonald

Sensitive claims sent to branch offices – ACC
Hundreds of sensitive ACC claims – those related to rape and other sexual abuse – have been transferred out of the corporation’s Sensitive Claims Unit to case managers in regional branch offices, the corporation has said.
Claimant advocacy groups are shocked by the move they say was made without consultation and in some cases without fully informing claimants.
NZ Herald, Thursday May 31, 2012

This story appeared in the Herald last week detailing the rumour suggested in my last blog.  The breach of the ACC’s own protocols about how sensitive claimants privacy are managed is deeply concerning, despite how the ACC might spin it.  But why have some 250 clients files been transferred outside of the Sensitive Claims Unit?

Well, it’s a bit of story.  But worth the telling...

Click here to read the rest of this post.

Cost-cutting blamed for latest ACC privacy breach

A report from One News

A cost-cutting culture at ACC is being blamed for a series of privacy breaches involving client's personal information.
In the latest case, ONE News discovered an employee sent confidential account information on more than 100 clients to the wrong people. The accounts for overdue levies of the 118 ACC clients were mixed up and sent to other clients by mistake last Friday.
ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart fronted up to ONE News, saying he is "deeply apologetic".
It comes after another major privacy breach in March when an ACC employee sent confidential details about 6,000 clients to claimant Bronwyn Pullar.
"ACC is a repeat offender when it comes to these breaches of privacy," Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei told TV ONE's Breakfast. "Part of the problem is ACC is very focussed on cutting costs, getting people off ACC and reducing compensation to clients and not on providing a quality service to injured New Zealanders.
"That is a political decision made by the Minister and the chairman."
She said ACC Minister Judith Collins needs to intervene and not "take her hands off the issue again."
In a statement, Collins said she was unable to comment about the latest breach. "ACC's privacy processes are currently under investigation by the privacy commissioner so it is not appropriate," she said.

Defamation
ACC could face legal action over its latest breach of clients' privacy, a lawyer says. John Miller said this sort of situation seems to be becoming too frequent with ACC.
"This is not only a privacy breach, but this is, I think, defamatory material that's gone out that could affect people's credit," he said.
"ACC could defend a defamation suit by saying 'well, it's true,' but it may not be true, they may have got it wrong."
Labour's ACC spokesman Andrew Little says the blunder is unbelievable.
"With everything ACC has been through this year, you'd think that the one thing they'd be absolutely vigilant about is the information going out from them," Little said.
Each account contained the client's name, ACC number and how much they owe the corporation.
Stewart said the error is "deeply disappointing". In an email sent to staff yesterday, he blames the mistake on human error. ACC only admitted the error after ONE News obtained the email and started making inquiries.
Stewart admitted he would not have gone public and acknowledged the error if ONE News had not asked the question.
In two weeks ACC is meeting with major stake holders and independent auditors KPMG to address its problem with privacy.

© 2012 Television New Zealand Ltd

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cost-cutting-blamed-latest-acc-privacy-breach-4891754

ACC cuts see woe for rape counselling

An article from the Southland Times by Gwyneth Hyndman

Southland's rape crisis centre continues to struggle to meet needs of sexual abuse victims since ACC cuts to funding for counselling services in 2009.
Centre manager Susana Lepoamo said referrals to the Invercargill centre – which serves the whole of Southland – had nearly doubled in 2010 as a result, with 173 referrals that year. Of these, 154 wanted counselling.
A waiting list for the long-term counselling that the crisis centre provided – a service ACC used to offer – was set up. With only two fulltime staff, this was a heavy load and it took time she said.
In the 2010-2011 year, referrals had dropped to 80, with 42 wanting counselling. The year to date – July 2011 till March 2012 – had 69 referrals for Southland.
The drop in referrals hadn't been analysed, but it was possible it was because there was still a waiting list for counselling services. Most referrals came from New Zealand Police or community agencies. A small percentage were self-referrals, many coming to the centre after the New Year when people were re-evaluating their lives, she said. "A waiting list for this is not ideal."
Education facilitator Natalie Bennie said survivors had counted on ACC support to provide longer support than what they were equipped to offer. The crisis centre offers 10 free sessions for victims. "Especially in the historical cases [of abuse] there is a social and emotional impact. They need time to resolve this."
The impact of long-term abuse could not be resolved in 10 sessions. "They can't just be dropped out in the cold."
Eventually, the board that oversaw the rape crisis centre wanted the services to be 50 per cent preventive services, she said. However the service was still centred on counselling services.
Ms Bennie said further strategic planning – including the gathering of Southland-specific statistics – was being done.
The centre had also seen a rise in referrals following youth-based initiatives in schools, such as the Breaking the Silence 2010 pilot initiative. Another initiative in schools was planned for the winter, she said.
Centre services in Invercargill began in 1981 with a Women's Supportline Southland – a telephone service staffed by volunteers working from their homes.
The service evolved into the Rape and Abuse Support Centre Southland and began a service to male abuse victims in 2009.

© 2012 Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/6841187/ACC-cuts-see-woe-for-rape-counselling

ACC's culture must change

A press release by Access Support Services

Over the last year there have been numerous negative media reports about the way ACC is managing claims, especially concerning sexual abuse victims and decisions declining surgery funding. Many organisations, including medical practitioners, counsellors and lawyers, have expressed the same concerns raised by Access Support Services over the last year.
The changes to ACC have come as a result of the Government’s directive for it to reduce costs. ACC claim these changes reflect a more rigorous application of the ACC legislation than in the past and the culture of ACC had to change.
It is difficult to argue against this if you accept what ACC claim at face value. However, it does stack up when you consider the statistics. For example, the number of review applications challenging ACC’s decisions have increased from about 6000 in 2008 to 9000 last year, a 50% increase. If, as ACC claim, it is applying the legislation more rigorously then one would expect an increase in the number of decisions upheld at review when in fact it has remained constant at 75% over the past 10 years. That means 1 in 4 decisions challenged through the review process are found to be wrong.
Access Support Services own success at overturning decisions is somewhat greater, an average of 75%, which is comparable with what other ACC specialists report. But in the area of decisions relating to surgery and sensitive claims Access Support Services success is somewhat greater than its average.
“In the last year about 90% of the surgery funding decisions we have handled have been overturned and I can only recall one review decision relating to a sensitive claim not being successful since 2006” claims David Wadsworth, Head of Access Support Services.
This does not necessarily reflect our expertise in these areas, although these have made up a significant proportion of our cases in the last year, it is more indicative of the way ACC goes about its decision-making process. Access Support Services finds ACC relies too heavily on its internal medical advisors without giving proper consideration to all the circumstances, including external medical specialist opinions and the requirements of the legislation.
“We consider ACC’s decision making process is fundamentally flawed and it does not meet basic legal principles” says Mr Wadsworth.
In fact, one ACC Appeal Judge has expressed his concerns as well. In a recent District Court decision Judge Beattie commented; “ I am not impressed by the nature of the evidence upon which the respondent acted to make its decision, and that advice was given, I find, without proper regard to the legal position of the appellant's entitlement to funding for treatment.”
In another appeal decision concerning ACC’s decision to decline funding surgery Judge Beattie commented; “This Court has now heard and considered a significant number of cases on appeal where the respondent's decision to decline to fund surgery is based essentially on the fact that the claimant's shoulder is displaying aspects of degeneration commensurate with age. The respondent is very quick to seize on that identified state of affairs and use it as a reason for declinature, and I find that the present case is such an example of that.”
Access Support Services considers the changes to ACC are less about rigorous application of the legislation and more to do with an arbitrary approach to decision-making. “ACC must change its culture or its ACC’s senior management, or both. This is not what the ACC scheme is suppose to be about and it is contrary the requirements of the legislation,” says Mr Wadsworth.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1012/S00126/accs-culture-must-change-advocate.htm

Clients feel pain of ACC cuts

An article from the New Zealand Herald by Martin Johnston and Simon Collins

Physiotherapy claims paid for by ACC have slumped by nearly a quarter, reflecting the social insurer's sharp cut backs in health treatment - at a time when New Zealand's rate of injuries is continuing to climb.
The Government-directed strike at cover by the Accident Compensation Corporation has borne rich financial fruit at the Crown-owned entity, with a 6 per cent drop in spending on claims in the June year.
ACC chairman John Judge, controversially appointed last year during what the Opposition asserted were exaggerated claims of a financial crisis at the corporation, has trumpeted its $2.5 billion surplus for the last financial year. "This means that rather than the $12.8 billion net liability at the start of this financial year," he writes in the 2009/10 annual report, "the Scheme now has a $10.3 billion net liability. This is a remarkable turnaround and a real credit to all of ACC's staff."
He might have - but didn't - give credit to senior official Phil Riley, whose 2009 work on the corporation's ideological shift, from "social insurer" to "insurer", from interventionism to safety-net provider, coincided with a large shift of long-term recipients of ACC's weekly compensation to Government welfare benefits.
This shift involved 1956 people in the latest June year, up from 764 two years earlier, according to official figures supplied to Greens MP Kevin Hague.
This increase of nearly 1200 people moving from long-stay compo to welfare nearly matched the reduction - highlighted by ACC - in its tally of long-stay compo claimants in 2009/10. The tally stood at around 13,100 in June, down from a peak of about 14,400 at this time last year.
More cuts are coming.
ACC has promised the Government it will slash the number receiving weekly compensation long-term by at least a further 1150 people by next June.
Denise Powell, the head of claimants support group ACClaim Otago, said many long-term claimants who were bumped off the system ended up not getting even a welfare benefit because their partner worked. "It's certainly having a huge impact psychologically on quite a few of our members. We've had several people who have had suicide attempts relating to the pressure they have been put under."
In healthcare, the most noticeable reductions have been in GP care and physiotherapy - because these are numerically and financially the biggest sectors funded by ACC (although these patients are generally levied a co-payment).
Paid physio claims reduced by 23 per cent in the year to September, after ACC ended the free-to-the-patient system that ran at many physio practices last November. Patients now generally face a physio co-payment of around $17 for a first consultation covered by ACC.
But some of the greatest misery for rejected patients is likely to be in the elective surgery category and especially in shoulder surgery, where a new, hard-nosed policy has forced many on to public hospital waiting lists. Others will have paid privately or turned to their private health insurer.
Advocates and lawyers who represent aggrieved ACC claimants say they noticed a big increase in rejections of surgery applications last year and a consequent increase in the number of cases being taken through the review process.
Reviews shot up last year to 9182, from just under 6000 the year before - and the number of claimants whose review applications succeeded rose at the same rate, according to Government figures supplied to Labour.
The proportion of surgery claims that were rejected rose to 20 per cent last year, from 12 per cent the year before.
Nelson-based advocate David Wadsworth, of Access Support Services, said, "It tells us their decision-making is flawed. Once they have made a decision, no matter what evidence we provide, they won't change their decision."
Previously ACC had often backed down when given strong evidence its decision was wrong.
"We believe, especially in terms of surgery, that they are playing a numbers game. Only so many people will have the wherewithal to go through the review process."
This view is also held by Christchurch orthopaedic surgeon Gary Hooper, the president of the Orthopaedic Association. He said ACC was turning many older people down simply because they were older, which was taken to indicate their condition was largely related to wear and tear and ageing, rather than an injury.
He cited a patient turned down for shoulder surgery after he grabbed at a railing when a ladder slipped while he was painting his house. The rotator cuff tendon was torn, a condition which can cause pain and decreased function.
It has a more than 90 per cent chance of cure if repaired surgically, but if left, the tear can increase in size and become inoperable. The patient was 87, but Mr Hooper said he "looks about 60 - physiologically he's about 60". ACC said he had underlying changes in his shoulder.
"There's nothing on any radiology investigations that support that contention.
"The primary reason he was turned down is that he's 87."
A leading shoulder and elbow surgeon, Khalid Mohammed, said entitlement to rotator cuff surgery was a difficult area to define because the tendon was subject to wear and tear and ageing.
ACC legislation specifically withholds cover for injuries that are "wholly or substantially" - usually taken to mean "largely" - caused by ageing.
A member of a group of surgeons negotiating with ACC to resolve the shoulder cover difficulties, Mohammed undertook a comprehensive review of scientific studies to determine the reliability of x-ray and other imaging results which had been used in deciding whether shoulder changes were in fact longstanding or degenerative.
"Sometimes certain imaging findings ... have been used as evidence to decline a case which I feel should have entitlement.
"My article was to look at the validity of those findings in detail."
The results? "There are some findings on imaging studies that do indicate that there have been significant problems for a long period of time.
"And there are other findings that in the past have been suggested as associated with a degenerative process which do not, in effect, have any accurate or relevant bearing on that."
He had given his findings to ACC and believed they had produced a change. "I feel there has been some improvements ... in the decline rate decreasing recently for shoulders."
There are also concerns about the scope of practice of some of the medical practitioners ACC relies on for advice to determine cover, partly because surgery has become so highly sub-specialised. Often these opinions are just two sentences long.
Mr Wadsworth said many of the ACC-sourced medical opinions that had been used to reject his clients' claims looked very similar to each other. "There's one particular one that keeps coming up ... He was writing one-line opinions.
"He was almost cut-and-pasting from one to another - the same opinion and changing the person's name and maybe one or two words."
The Government quietly acknowledged that ACC's tightening up on surgery approvals would shift patients on to public hospital waiting lists.
In the Budget this year, Health Minister Tony Ryall announced "an extra $59.5 million for elective surgery over the next four years", and that public hospitals had done even better than he had asked at increasing their volumes of elective surgery.
But it later emerged in a Ryall cabinet paper that $40 million of the money was to cater for patients being declined by ACC and who were now causing "increasing waiting times" on public hospital lists.
Subsequently, officials have expressed uncertainty about the size of this ACC to public hospital shift.
One area in which ACC has partially backed down is on claims by victims of sexual abuse.
Following an outcry, the corporation in August announced that although the restrictions it introduced last year were in line with its legislation, it acknowledged this had "exposed gaps" in services and it would provide extra support.
Labour's ACC spokesman David Parker said the corporation had become too tough. "The tough attitude in terms of saying no and expecting people to fight for their rights seems to have become more prevalent."
But ACC Minister Nick Smith said the Government had had little choice but to pull ACC, which it viewed as a social insurance scheme, back from its "slippage" since 2004.
It had to balance the costs of ACC to business, households and motorist with the rights of genuine accident victims. "There was a 57 per cent increase in claim costs from 2004 to 2008, five times the rate of inflation. That was unsustainable."
He said this had been masked under Labour by the booming share and property markets, which had given ACC a misplaced complacency over ballooning claims growth.
Long-term weekly compensation claimant numbers were back down to their 2005 level.
Physio claims went from 373,000 in 2004, to 477,000 in 2008, and with the re-expansion of patient part-charges, this was expected to drop back to about 390,000 this year. "If you look at elective surgery, the number ... this year is more than in 2005 and 2006, but those numbers increased by 30 per cent.
"The very clear instructions I have given to ACC are that they need to meet their costs when they clearly are an accident, but they should not be allowing drift from other public or social services such as Welfare or Health into ACC."
Review numbers had risen from roughly around 600 cases a month, to 800, "a small increase".
But ACC was winning a large majority, and this was virtually unchanged.

ACC'S ELECTIVE SURGERY BILL
In the latest six-month period, ACC paid for:
* 2385 fewer operations than it did two years ago.
* January-June 2008: 20,679 operations
* January-June 2010: 18,294 operations
* Reduction: 11 per cent

Copyright 2010 APN Holdings NZ Ltd
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10685673

John Key's new threshold for compassion in a recession

A blog entry from Tumeke! by Bomber Bradbury

ACC denied funeral claim
Distraught about losing their son, a Palmerston North couple have hit out at the lack of help available to the mentally ill or to families of people who commit suicide.

ACC’s decision to deny any claims by families for suicide funeral costs as the National Party don’t consider suicide an accident is just another example of how John Key can find money for tax cuts that benefit the rich while denying funding for people in need.
This despicable, petty, nasty little cost cutting measure is simply another example of John Key’s new threshold of compassion during a recession, forget media rules covering suicides John, how about some help to cover funeral costs for the families impacted by the highest suicide rates in the OECD? Just like National’s decision to cut ACC funded counseling to rape victims which despite a damning report on the bullshit ‘Massey Guidelines’ policy is still continuing to deny women counseling services for rape with no monitoring system put in place despite promises by Nick Smith and ACC to do it.
And why haven’t any of you heard about denying the families of suicide victims any funeral costs and denying people counseling for rape in the TV news? Because apparently those issues aren’t as interesting as the death of a psychic octopus.
Denying women counselling for rape and suicide funeral costs, how's that 'change' feeling folks?

http://tumeke.blogspot.com/2010/11/john-keys-new-threshold-for-compassion.html

ACC appeals overloaded

An article from the Otago Daily Times by John Gibb

Critics say the ACC appeals system is threatening to burst at the seams, with review applications soaring to 9900 during the past year and 1446 cases stacked up at the district court.
Dunedin ACC campaigner Denise Powell and city lawyer Peter Sara, who has been handling ACC cases for more than 30 years, are urging a rethink of the way ACC is operating. An excessive emphasis on cost cutting and excluding many such claimants from coverage was causing the upsurge in reviews and appeals, Mr Sara told the Otago Daily Times.
The Green Party recently called for an independent review of changes made to ACC by the Government during the past two years, after a review of controversial changes to ACC's sexual abuse assessment procedures highlighted major flaws.
But ACC claims management acting general manager Mike Tully said he found it "hard to imagine how ACC could be too focused on cost containment when we have a $10.3 billion deficit to contend with."
"The fact is that the future of the ACC scheme was in jeopardy and some difficult decisions were necessary," Mr Tully said. An increase in reviews and appeals was "to be expected given our much tighter focus on applying our legislation properly".
"We also recognise that the benefits of being on ACC are considerable, especially if time off work is required, so we expect that people will do whatever they can to get on to ACC.
"What's important is that over the last couple of years the proportion of reviews and appeals upheld in ACC's favour has remained relatively steady in most areas, at about 75%." ACC decision-making processes were "fair and robust", he said.
Long-term ACC claimant numbers dropped from 15,271 to about 12,500 during the 2009-10 financial year, and ACC plans to cut at least 1150 more clients from its long-term claimant list by the middle of next year. Applications for reviews of ACC claim decisions had earlier risen from 6256 to 8160 over the 2008-09 financial year, a parliamentary report noted.
Officials at Disputes Resolution Services Ltd (DRSL), an ACC subsidiary which operates independently of ACC, said 9900 applications for review had been lodged with it in the 12 months to June 30 this year. A total of 9430 reviews were also completed or withdrawn over that period.
Ministry of Justice tribunals national manager Wayne Newall noted that if claimants were "unhappy" about an ACC claim, the first step was for ACC to review the decision, including through DRSL. If people were still not satisfied, they could apply to the Accident Compensation Appeals District Court Registry to further review the decision. The registry hears claims against decisions by DRSL, and district court judges deal with the appeals. The judges decided 236 cases last year, and 625 new cases were lodged. Of the 1446 "live" appeal cases before the court, 115 originated in Dunedin, Mr Newall said.
Denise Powell, who is the president of Acclaim Otago, an ACC claimant support group, said the appeal system was "getting so overloaded that it could burst at the seams".
"There must be a point at which they say, whether the courts say, or ACC says, something's wrong and if this continues we just can't keep up with the number of reviews and appeals that are coming through."

© Allied Press Limited 2010
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/128144/acc-appeals-overloaded

1150 to lose out in plans by ACC

An article from the Otago Daily Times by John Gibb

The Accident Compensation Corporation intends to cut at least 1150 more clients from its long-term claimants list by the middle of next year.
The company's Statement of Corporate Intent for 2010 to 2013, a copy of which has been obtained by the Otago Daily Times, reveals that those targeted include claimants receiving weekly compensation payments for a year, including "new" long-term claimants.
The latest projected cuts come on top of a big reduction - from 15,271 to about 12,500 - in long-term claimants during the 2009-10 financial year, and after recent controversy and criticism over the ACC's handling of claims involving sexual abuse.
ACC spokesman Laurie Edwards said that the "big picture" should be remembered over the reduction target, which should not be seen as a mainly economic issue. "It's a measure of how well we're doing in getting people back to their pre-injury lives," he said.
Individual circumstances were taken into account, and if claimants were unhappy with outcomes, they could use appeal mechanisms.
Denise Powell, president of Acclaim Otago, an ACC claimant support group, is worried about what she sees as the high human cost of further substantial cuts in long-term claimants.
Ms Powell told the ODT she was concerned about the effect on the mental health of claimants, of further attempts to remove them from weekly compensation support. "From talking to people, they're just worn out from having to battle [to retain compensation]," she said.
An earlier survey had shown some Acclaim group members had been badly depressed because of previous moves to "exit" them from ACC coverage, despite their serious injuries.
Ms Powell is also a member of ACC's Consumers' Outlook Group (COG), a national liaison group involving claimants and ACC senior management, and she plans to raise her concerns at the next COG meeting in Wellington on Friday.
A recent "fiasco" over handling of sexual abuse claims highlighted the need for ACC to avoid excessive cost-cutting and using simplistic criteria that did not take individual circumstances sufficiently into account.
Several of ACC's recent moves over work-related rehabilitation had been positive, including an emphasis on good early rehabilitation, through the Better at Work scheme. But, in the light of a critical independent review panel report on sensitive claims issues, released recently, ACC needed to take a "long hard look" at any future plans for further streamlining processes, such as in the rehabilitation area, to achieve spending cuts, she said.

© Allied Press Limited 2010
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/127150/1150-lose-out-plans-acc

ACC Minister continues to fail sexual abuse victims

A press release from the Labour Party

ACC Minister Nick Smith’s continued buck passing on the issue of sexual abuse guidelines introduced under his watch is unacceptable, Labour Victims Rights spokesperson Lynne Pillay says.
“Nick Smith is apparently ‘urging’ ACC to take notice of a review of disastrous sexual abuse guidelines. That statement implies the Minister is not responsible for ACC and the decisions it makes,” Lynne Pillay said. “The Minister is responsible for decisions taken by ACC were taken under his watch, he was warned by health professional that the guidelines would re-victimise those people who had already suffered horribly and yet he continued to institute them.
“Throughout this process the Minister has repeatedly mislead and misinformed the public about his role and what was happening. The Minister’s behaviour is unacceptable and disgraceful.
“The guidelines were clearly introduced as a cost saving measure and to have ACC today come out and say those guidelines which denied thousands of people assistance as having merit is totally inappropriate.
“The National Government introduced guidelines clearly failed the people they were meant to help.
“I have no confidence in the Minister to right this horrific wrong, given both his and ACC’s statements today.
“Announcing that they would work with professionals working in sector into the future shows how badly this situation has been handled.
“The professionals working with those who have suffered sexual abuse, told ACC and the Minister even before the guidelines were introduced that they would lead to thousands of people being denied help.
“Given the Minister and ACC have failed to listen to health professionals again and again what confidence can anyone have that they will finally open the minds and admit they have failed and potentially caused harm to thousands of people,” Lynne Pillay said.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1009/S00172/acc-min-continues-to-fail-sexual-abuse-victims.htm

Opposition MPs critical over ACC issue

A news report on Voxy from NZPA

Opposition MPs have criticised ACC Minister Nick Smith over his response to a report into the corporation's handling of sexual abuse claims, but the report has mainly laid blame with ACC.
Dr Smith initiated a review when concerns were raised about the difficulties victims faced in getting adequate treatment.
Released today, the report set out 14 recommendations, saying it discovered a "precipitous drop" in sensitive claims when it compared the first three months of 2009 with the first three months of this year.
A review panel, headed by Dr Barbara Disley, said ACC had changed the systems it used with too much haste and did not adequately consult relevant government and non-government organisations, or its own Sensitive Claims Advisory Group.
Dr Smith said he acknowledged that managing sensitive claims was challenging, but that he was not satisfied with ACC's handling of the issue. "There are important lessons for ACC to learn from this report.
"As recommended, I will be implementing an independent monitoring group to ensure ACC delivers on the report's recommendations," he said.
ACC said today the changes it made were about targeting services to those covered by its legislation and to improve the outcomes those people achieved. "We still believe those are reasonable goals."
General manager of claims management Denise Cosgrove said the changes were never about saving money -- something that has been suggested by some opposition MPs. "Year on year, our total expenditure in this area has hardly fallen and it is only a tiny part of ACC's total expenditure," she said. "However, it became clear that the changes we had introduced had excluded more people than we expected and, more importantly, there was little else available for them outside of ACC."
Ms Cosgrove said the review panel's report raised serious issues and ACC had already begun responding to them.
Labour Party victims rights spokeswoman Lynne Pillay accused Dr Smith of "buck passing" over the issue. "Nick Smith is apparently 'urging' ACC to take notice of a review of disastrous sexual abuse guidelines. That statement implies the minister is not responsible for ACC and the decisions it makes," she said.
Ms Pillay said guidelines introduced since National came to power were clearly done as a cost saving measure.
Green Party ACC spokesman Kevin Hague said Dr Smith's acknowledgement that problems were caused by changes made by ACC highlighted a need for an independent review of all changes made by ACC since National took office, so as to ensure accident victims were not being re-victimised.
Dr Smith said he was confident there would now be a system in place ensuring that sensitive claimants got the right services at the right time, and that it would be a significant improvement on what previously existed.

http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/opposition-mps-critical-over-acc-issue/5/62561

Independent review of ACC needed

A press release from the Green Party

Nick Smith’s acknowledgement that problems were caused by changes to how ACC deals with sexual abuse victims highlights the need for an independent review of all changes made to ACC since National took office, the Green Party said today.
“An independent review of the changes is needed to ensure ACC is doing its job and not re-victimising of accident victims,” Green Party ACC spokesperson Kevin Hague said. “The changes made to ACC's sexual abuse assessment procedures are the first to be assessed independently and the review, released today, confirms the changes were a disaster, with victims of rape and sexual abuse being denied essential care and unnecessarily.”
Since late 2008 ACC Minister Nick Smith has introduced wide-ranging changes to ACC cover, entitlements and assessment criteria. These include narrowing the criteria for approving surgery, restrictions on cover for hearing loss and work-related gradual process injuries, and widening the vocational independence assessment criteria under which ACC decides to stop paying claimants weekly compensation.
“Given that the panel has found major flaws in this area of changed procedures, the public can have no confidence that the other changed procedures have been handled any better, unless these are also reviewed independently,” Mr Hague said.
Mr Hague said recent revelations that the new approach to sensitive claims had been based on work by Dr Felicity Goodyear-Smith. ACC commissioned Dr Goodyear-Smith to provide advice on a number of occasions and then, according to the Sunday Star-Times, attempted to cover this up.
Dr Goodyear-Smith has a history of involvement with the Centrepoint community and held controversial views about sexual abuse. ACC’s former General Manager of Health Purchasing, David Rankin, confirmed over the weekend that ACC had known about this at the time, and that an expert panel of clinicians had recommended against Dr Goodyear-Smith’s recommendations.
Mr Hague said he suspected that cost cutting was the motivation for the changes despite Rankin and ACC’s denial. “The only possible explanations for the poor decisions that have come to light so far are that ACC has a sick culture, intent on cost-cutting through disentitlement, or that the organisation’s systems have failed to the point that catastrophic errors of judgment can occur.
“The New Zealand public deserves a thorough and independent review to determine the source of these problems and ensure that a fix is put in place, in which we can all have confidence.”

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1009/S00169/independent-review-of-acc-needed.htm

ACC responds to independent review of services

A press release from ACC

Last year’s changes to how ACC manages sexual abuse claims were designed to achieve two goals. They were to ensure we targeted our services to those people who were actually covered by our legislation and to improve the outcomes those people achieved. We still believe those are reasonable goals.
The changes were never about saving money. Year on year, our total expenditure in this area has hardly fallen and it is only a tiny part of ACC’s total expenditure.
However, it became clear that the changes we had introduced had excluded more people than we expected and, more importantly, there was little else available for them outside of ACC.
“ACC has already acknowledged this situation itself and had begun working with the sector to put in place whatever support we appropriately can. For example, we recently introduced up to 16 hours of support for people with a new sensitive claim, or who are awaiting an assessment”, said Denise Cosgrove, General Manager, Claims Management, ACC.
The report of the Independent Review Panel, released today by the Minister for ACC, raises a number of serious issues and ACC has already begun responding to them.
“ACC met with the Panel to discuss its findings. We agree that action is required in some areas, and believe the initiatives we have already put in place will go some way to addressing their concerns.”
“However, we continue to believe that, for those who are accepted by ACC, the current Pathway offers considerable advantages over the previous process. It ensures people get a proper assessment before treatment is undertaken, that there is a plan in place for that treatment and checks that progress is being made towards set objectives. This represents sound clinical practice.”
“Nonetheless, to ensure we make good decisions moving forward, we have begun regular meetings with the sexual abuse treatment sector, including clients, to make sure that they are involved and their voices are heard. The feedback we have received from them and the Independent Panel about our early work has been very positive”.
Ms Cosgrove said work was continuing on the development of separate processes for children and other groups such as Maori. A workforce development plan for counsellors, to ensure they provided a high-quality service, was also being developed. “But I have to emphasise that not all of the answers sit with ACC. We are just one of a number of agencies with responsibilities in this area. The Government’s response to the Report of the Sexual Violence Taskforce will provide a ‘whole of government’ approach, which is a sensible way to ensure that the right solutions are put in place”.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1009/S00101/acc-responds-to-independent-review-of-services.htm