Clinical Review of the ACC Sensitive Claims Clinical Pathway

The report of Sensitive Claims Pathway Review Panel set up by ACC Minister Nick Smith has been released.

The Panel was set up in April this year and was asked to review the implementation and impact of the new Clinical Pathway on people who have mental injury caused by sexual abuse or assault.

The Panel’s report found that:

the Pathway resulted in a steep drop in the number of claims submitted and is discouraging sexual abuse victims from lodging a claim
there are no good legislative or clinical reasons to restrict access to cover to only those who have a DSM-IV diagnosis
triage of all claims is taking too long and any delay at this stage can result in further trauma for survivors
ACC’s communications with sexual abuse victims and providers have often been inappropriate and inadequate
overall the Pathway is effectively a claims management pathway which has significantly worsened timeliness, reduced appropriate access, and not improved outcomes for individual clients nor for groups with particular needs
overall the Pathway was poorly planned and hurriedly implemented without adequate consultation with the sector or relevant central government agencies.
The report makes 14 specific recommendations to address these findings and the Minister is urging ACC to adopt the recommendations.

To read the report “Clinical Review of the ACC Sensitive Claims Clinical Pathway” (77p ; 2.4Mb) please go to: http://admin.beehive.govt.nz/webfm_send/13
ACC Minister’s Press Release: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/minister+welcomes+sensitive+claims+cl...