Media Publications

Eight years ago a birth accident resulted in Andrew Dickson’s son being diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Today Dickson’s battle with ACC lays bare the myth at the centre of our ‘no fault’ compensation system.

A Dunedin-based support group which has fought for years to improve access to justice for ACC claimants says it has also been denied justice over the membership of a new "customer advisory panel".

There could be a silver lining to your next injury - the computer you talk to at ACC may have mastered the art of small talk. Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) is looking for a supplier for an artificial intelligence "chatbot" to answer questions "in a way that feels natural, getting 'smarter' over time".

The Accident Compensation Corporation should cover people incapacitated by sickness and disability – and not just accidents – former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC says. In a speech to Victoria University in Wellington, Palmer said drawing a line between injuries and other medical issues could be difficult and unfair. A "single unified system" would end unjust discrimination, he said.

The Accident Compensation Corporation says it has identified 369 self-employed people who it has over-billed by classifying them as working full-time when they were only working part-time.

The Accident Compensation Corporation is doubling its investment in a huge business transformation programme to $669 million, forecasting that will make its staff an extra 10 per cent more productive. However, one expert has forecast the plan will "backfire" and lead to more injury claims that will end up costing the organisation more than it saves.

The excellent work of recent IRF recipients suggests they will continue the established trend. Last year’s winner, Warren Forster, has taken on nothing less than a fundamental “world first” conceptual rethink of how we organise and fund health and disability services. His early ideas are attracting considerable interest from policy-makers, and offer the prospect of improved access to quality care for many who struggle to navigate the system.

Concern about an ACC ''gagging clause'' highlights the need for greater focus on human rights and oversight by a commissioner, Dunedin lawyer and researcher Warren Forster says.

An ACC expert says Kiwis suffering Complex Regional Pain Syndrome are slipping through the cracks of bureaucratic red tape. Dunedin barrister and researcher Warren Forster says ACC is letting down patients with the syndrome, said to be the world's most painful. Forster says ACC case managers saw CRPS sufferers as "easy targets" to decline cover to because of differences in opinion from assessing doctors over how the syndrome occurs.

ACC was established to support the rehabilitation of those injured in an accident. So why it is now treating patients as liabilities? In the final of a three-part series Cate Broughton looks at how ACC is changing.