The Swamp Report

30 April 2014

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.

29 April 2014

ACC fully funded counselling 'outside evidence'

A press release from 24-7 by Steve Taylor

ACC decision to fully fund counselling therapy “way outside the scope of the outcome evidence” says Counsellor and Social Services Outcomes Researcher.
The decision by the ACC to fully fund counselling for victims of sexual assault is a “good intentions decision absent of any cogent wisdom or evidence as to what works in therapy” says Steve Taylor, Director of 24-7 Ltd, and a Social Service Outcomes Researcher.
“While we know that 80% of people who seek therapy will make much better progress with their presenting issue than 80% of people who may need therapy but don’t seek it, we also know that the most significant period of clinically significant change for clients occurs within the first 5 – 7 sessions of therapy”.
ACC’s own reported uptake figures bear this out, with claimants session uptake averaging 7.8 sessions per person”.
Once again, just like with the NZ Family Court before it, the Government is going to throw money in the general direction of what it thinks might work, not ask for any outcomes measures of service provision from the therapists providing the service, and then cross it’s fingers that someone, somewhere, might be helped”.
Based on the international client outcome evidence, for ACC to adopt such a cavalier attitude with taxpayer-funded levies by stating “here’s 12 months of funding, help yourself”, would strongly indicate that the organisation has absolutely no idea of the importance of securing outcome data for funds disbursed, or service efficiency economies of scale".
Funding 48 therapy sessions over a 12 month period is gross and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money, when most of the time, clinically significant change can occur with many fewer sessions, provided that the results of the counselling intervention is being measured, and adjusted to suit specific client needs accordingly” said Mr Taylor.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1404/S00094/acc-fully-funded-counselling-outside-evidence.htm

Changes to ACC funding for sensitive claims

A post from FrogBlog by Jan Logie

Isaac Davidson from the Herald ran another great story today on the support services for victims of sexual abuse and ACC plans to improve coverage.
The new model will be “an expanded, more flexible service which took into account the sensitivity, length of time and cost of treating rape-related trauma based on the 2010 review recommendations.” It will cover full cost of the sessions and will allow people to shop around for a therapist who they feel comfortable with and therapists, psychologist and psychotherapists would be given travel funding to allow them to reach people in isolated regions. ACC is also planning to increasingly include family members or support people through the recovery process. There is an expectation that with increased reporting and more funding ACC were expecting the cost of sensitive claims to double from $45million per year.
Of course this is all good news but there are a few points in here that we need to watch carefully if we are to ensure that everyone gets the right help...

Read the rest of this post here: http://blog.greens.org.nz/?p=30254

© 2014 The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

ACC to cover rape therapy costs in full

An article from the New Zealand Herald by Isaac Davison

ACC will pay for every cent of rape victims' counselling as part of a major overhaul of its sensitive claims system later this year.
The corporation is bracing for a significant increase in the number of sensitive claims in the next six years as the stigma around sexual violence is increasingly broken down in New Zealand.
In response, it was planning an expanded, more flexible service which took into account the sensitivity, length of time, and cost of treating rape-related trauma. These changes were based on the recommendations of a highly critical independent review in 2010.
Sexual violence services are under scrutiny in New Zealand following the "Roast Busters" scandal and temporary closure of some frontline clinics because of funding shortfalls. ACC received 5055 new sensitive claims last year, and is expecting a 10 per cent increase in claims each year until 2020.
ACC strategy manager for sexual violence Emma Powell said the overhaul would give victims more time, funding and choice.
"We are no longer going to be approving 10 counselling sessions here, or 10 there, we are actually saying 'Here's 12 months, you and your therapists ... build a programme around the person's needs ... and that's about providing a much more holistic approach'.
"We're throwing away the calendar and throwing away the clock and just letting people focus on getting better."
The cost of the upgrade cannot yet be revealed, but it was expected to require a doubling of funding. ACC spent around $45 million on sensitive claims in 2012/13.
At present, ACC funded counselling for rape victims but only up to $80 for a one-hour session. Counsellors often charged a "top-up", or additional fee of up to $90.
Ms Powell said the corporation was concerned that this cost was putting people off a crucial service. Claimants were taking an average of 7.8 sessions despite being entitled to 16 sessions, or more depending on their circumstances.
Under the new service, ACC would cover the full cost of the sessions. The overhaul would also allow victims to shop around for a therapist who they felt comfortable with.
Therapists, psychologists or psychotherapists would be given travel funding to allow them to reach people in isolated regions.
ACC and its partner agencies planned to increasingly include family members or support people during the recovery process, though it was not yet planning to extend its services to perpetrators.
At present, adult sexual abusers can get funded treatment only if they are in the criminal justice system. This meant there was a gap in the system because many victims knew their abusers and did not want to place charges, but wanted them to get treatment.
This problem was raised at a wide-ranging Parliamentary inquiry into specialist sexual violence services. The inquiry has been told of long waits for specialist services, uncertainty about continued funding, and the struggle to help Maori, rural, transgender or intersex clients.

Funding changes
*All counselling sessions for sensitive claims will be fully funded.
*Claimants can get access to 48 therapy sessions over 12 months, as well as other treatment.
*Victims can shop around for a counsellor they can trust.
*Family members or support people will be included in treatment where appropriate.
*Therapists will be funded for travel to allow them to visit isolated regions.

24 April 2014

Bronwyn Puller: ACC abused claimants' rights with consent form

A report from 3 News by Melanie Reid for Third Degree

Bronwyn Puller blew the whistle on ACC in 2012. She was sent nearly 7000 personal files in one of New Zealand’s worst privacy breaches.
Two years later ACC has been found to be involved in another massive privacy scandal. This time it potentially affects three-quarters of a million Kiwis.
"There’s no limitation on it [ACC form 167]," says Ms Puller. "So it’s as wild as your imagination. They could go to your bank and obtain all your banking financial records. They could go to your telecommunications provider and obtain access to your emails. They could go to your gym, look at your gym attendance. They could go to your neighbours, talk to your neighbours. But it’s not just what they can collect; this actually also gives ACC unlimited powers of disclosure."
ACC was forcing clients to sign a consent form that was well beyond ACC’s legal mandate. This gave ACC powers – way beyond what they have under the legislation. This gives them the ability, and the Government, to intrude in every aspect of your life. It gives them the ability to release any information about you to any third party.
Here are just a few examples from our ACC files:

A male freezing worker's sexual abuse history was shared with his employer.

A claimant who had suffered mental health issues had her highly sensitive files released to her employer.

A victim of a brutal assault also had confidential files released to his employer – files about his nightmares, medication and counselling sessions.

"This is the consequence of this form," says Ms Puller. "I don’t think anyone in their right mind would want their employer, or a potential employer, or a headhunting agency, having complete access to their medical records. They are the most highly sensitive private information."
The problem for claimants is if they didn’t sign the 167 consent form allowing ACC wide-ranging collection of their private information, they faced being cut off.
So last week a judge ruled ACC’s use of the consent form unlawful. But there are allegations that for years and years ACC has known this.
Ms Puller had raised the issue of the 167 form with the former minister, the board, the State Services Commission, the Privacy Commissioner, Department of Labour and Ombudsman.
"[Current ACC Minister] Judith Collins was given the list of 45 issues, which I took to the meeting in December, that we asked ACC to address," she says. "The ACC 167 was listed on that as one of the concerns we had about the unlawful approach to the way ACC was operating its business. That list was given to the minister on March 14, 2012.
"I know that she received my list of 45 issues. I also know that she received a copy of the independent report that was commissioned by ACC and the Privacy Commissioner, which raised concerns about ACC’s consent form, because it was the major bugbear that most claimants had with ACC."
So going by the judge's ruling, potentially there are hundreds of thousands of files sitting in an ACC database containing private information that has been obtained in an illegally manner.
"At the end of the day, ACC have created their own administrative nightmare, through the way that they’ve acted. They’ve acted unlawfully. They’ve acted irresponsibly. They’ve acted in a way that basically totally abuses the claimants' rights and the right to informed consent, and to control of their personal information. It’s that simple."
Click here to see the response from ACC.
For anyone with concerns about their claim in relation to their signing the ACC 167 consent form, please call 0800 745 254.