The Swamp Report

09 September 2010

Report out on counselling for sex abuse victims

A news report from Checkpoint on Radio New Zealand National

ACC is being told to change its controversial rules on how sexual abuse victims can get access to counselling. Click here to listen.

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 urged to adopt panel's recommendations

An article from the NZPA

ACC Minister Nick Smith says he isn't satisfied with the way the corporation is handling sexual abuse claims and a monitoring group will be set up to ensure it delivers on recommendations from an independent review panel.
Dr Smith initiated the review and the panel's report was released today, setting out 14 recommendations and 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.
The panel, headed by Dr Barbara Disley, said ACC changed the system with too much haste and did not adequately consult relevant government and non-government organisations or its own Sensitive Claims Advisory Group.
ACC's general manager for claims, Denise Cosgrove, responded by saying problems had been previously acknowledged and were starting to be addressed. Ms Cosgrove said ACC had met the panel and discussed 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," she said. "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."
Dr Smith said he was urging ACC to adopt the panel's recommendations. "While I acknowledge that managing sensitive claims is very challenging, I am not satisfied with ACC's handling of this issue," he said.
"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."
Dr Disley said the panel heard from about 50 survivors of sexual abuse, 30 organisations representing psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors, received nearly 180 written submissions and met all the relevant key government agencies. "Virtually everyone who made their views known to us told us of the major difficulties that have been caused," she said. "ACC has listened to our early concerns and made initial changes.
"As a result, survivors who make a new claim or have a claim already in the system now have 16 hours with a treatment provider available to them immediately."
The report said ACC's Sensitive Claims Pathway had aggravated the situation for sexual abuse survivors with particular needs, including Maori, children, adolescents, people with mental illness and those with addiction problems.
The panel's recommendations include:

ACC should move to improve access for survivors by introducing 16 hours of immediate therapeutic assessment and recovery support from a registered ACC treatment provider for new claimants, those currently under consideration, those who have had a claim declined and those who have chosen to withdraw their claim;

ACC should work with sector experts to agree additional standardised systems for determining mental injury - including those that would be appropriate for children and Maori;

All ACC communications with survivors of sexual abuse should be reviewed "as a matter of urgency" using survivor and expert provider assistance; and

ACC should work with sector and government agency representatives to develop and implement a comprehensive quality framework.