Peter Ellis web site - Christchurch crèche case
	ACC Compensation for Sex Abuse - Index
	1999 Index
	The Press February 10, 1999, ACC review call backed By Cullen Smith ACC case officers habitually fail to tell clients what they are entitled to claim, says a Christchurch occupational health specialist. Trades union health and safety officer and Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation advocate Maevis Watson said she repeatedly asked people if they had applied for an independence allowance. “Invariably they have no idea of their entitlement,” she said yesterday. “There appears to be little attempt from ACC to ensure that people understand what is happening to them. There is little cultural sensitivity.” Ms Watson, the Alliance candidate for Banks Peninsula, said that in her job she often met people who spoke English as a second language and had little understanding of “the system”. She said she had raised this at a meeting with Prime Minister Jenny Shipley when Mrs Shipley was ACC Minister. “We felt we had been listened to regarding the cultural sensitivity issues and the lack of information to clients,” Ms Watson said. “This has not been the case.” Ms Watson supports Christchurch specialist ACC claims solicitor Garry Wakefield who wants a full review of corporation operations. She said she believed the corporation breached the principles of natural justice regarding the right for people to be heard. People did not have easy access to review hearings and appeals against ACC decisions unless they had representation. “The system has become so legalistic the average person would not know how to argue their case in legal terms,” she said. Claimants often abandoned claims unless they could afford legal representation. Ms Watson said she had been told recently by “an ACC person” that 75 per cent of review hearings in the South Island went in favour of the corporation. “Getting your entitlements after injury is tough now, but with the privatisation of work injuries from July 1, this means injured workers will find it even more difficult to have their claim accepted.” ACC spokesman Alan Seay dismissed Ms Watson's comments yesterday as “an unwarranted slur” on the professionalism and dedication of corporation staff. ACC staff worked hard to help injured people achieve as speedy and as lasting a rehabilitation as possible, he said. “All ACC staff are aware of their responsibility to inform injured people of the help that is available to them and this is done as a matter of course,” he said. “Recent surveys have shown very high levels of satisfaction both with the service we provide and with ACC staff . . .''