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The Press
March 15, 2001
ACC pays $94m on abuse claims
by Diana McCurdy
ACC
has accepted 47,000 claims for sexual abuse since 1992, most of them from
adults who say they were sexually abused as children.
Latest statistics show that the cost of new and ongoing claims for sexual
abuse has topped $94 million in the last seven years.
Eighty per cent of claimants were claiming for treatment for the effects of
childhood abuse.
According to the statistics, more than 8000 claimants are receiving treatment
for the effects of sexual abuse.
General manager David Rankin said sexual abuse was a "hidden
injury" that affected thousands of New Zealanders.
ACC had an obligation to provide survivors with the best care possible, Dr
Rankin said. "Therapy has often been fragmented and incomplete due to
the complexities of the personal injury."
ACC has released new therapy guidelines for counsellors dealing with adult
survivors of sexual abuse.
The guidelines, which were written by Auckland
psychologist Kim McGregor, provide counsellors with information on abuse and
trauma therapy.
"Last year ACC spent over $1.5m on counselling, and we want that
counselling to be as effective as possible," Dr Rankin said.
Auckland University senior lecturer Felicity
Goodyear-Smith said she was concerned that ACC's approach was not
scientifically proven.
"As far as I know, there's no scientific evidence at all that says
sexual abuse counselling has any useful outcome."
She said those who were suffering ongoing problems as a result of sexual
abuse needed to have their current problems addressed, rather than those that
had occurred in the past.
Dr Goodyear-Smith said some people who had been sexually abused as children
needed help as adults. However, this was not always the case.
"Clearly if you have suffered childhood sexual abuse, you're more likely
to suffer problems in adulthood," she said.
"However, if we can't show that sexual abuse counselling is effective, I
don't think we should be prescribing counselling for people."
She said was "absolutely convinced" that some people had made
deliberate false claims about sexual abuse in the past, but she did not
believe it happened so much now.
ACC claims for treatment for sexual abuse do not require a criminal
conviction.
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