07 April 2020

Anthony Jordan
[FYI request #12281 email]

Tēnā koe Anthony

Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-003889
Thank you for your email of 20 February 2020, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):

Please supply information,  without disclosing name of Specialist/Specialists who have been
reported by the ACC to medical council, the specialists particular discipline agency or the like for
years 2010 to 2019
1/  Thier [sic] qualification/Specialty/or other such title allocated by thier [sic] own virtue
2/ the agency that carried out investigation
3/ the outcome of investigation pertaining to the specialist of concern
4/ years specialist has/was/or had ever been contracted by the ACC
5/ the Specialists current position with the ACC contract wise

Reporting belief of risk of harm to the public
Under sections 34 and 45 of the Health Practitioners Assurance Act 2003 (HPCA) ACC can, and in some
instances must, notify the relevant Regulatory Authority if we believe a treatment provider poses a
potential risk of harm to the public. More information about the HPCA can be found here:
www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2003/0048/latest/DLM203312.html.

Specialists reported to the New Zealand Medical Council (NZMC) by ACC between 1 January 2010 and
31 December 2019

Specialty
Outcome
Years contracted
Current position with ACC
Rheumatology and
Education provided.
2008 - present. Does
Registered as a provider
Musculoskeletal
No further action
not work under a
with ACC. Works under
Specialist
taken.
named provider
Cost of Treatment
contract.
Regulations.

Musculoskeletal
Education provided.
2002 – present.
Provides services under
Specialist
No further action
Has held ACC
contract.
taken.
contracts.

Orthopaedic
Education provided.
2005 – present.
Provides services under
Surgeon
No further action
Working under ACC
contract.
taken.
contracts.

Psychiatrist
MCNZ undertook a
2004 – present. Does  Registered as a provider
performance
not work under a
with ACC. Works under

assessment.
named provider
Cost of Treatment
contract.
Regulations.

                                                                                                                                                   GOV-003889

Specialty
Outcome
Years contracted
Current position with ACC
Pain Specialist /
Interim conditions on
2007 – 2015.
N/A
Anaesthetist
scope. The restrictions  Worked under a
were lifted once
named provider
enquiries were
contract.
complete and
education provided.
Musculoskeletal
Education provided.
2003 – present.
Provides services under
No further action
Has worked under a
contract.
taken.
named provider
contract.
Orthopaedic
Education provided.
2002 – present.
Provides services under
Surgeon
No further action
Has worked under a
contract.
taken.
named provider
contract.
*outcomes are the findings of the Medical Council of New Zealand, they are not ACC’s findings.

Reporting belief of risk of harm under section 284 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001
Under section 284 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001 (the AC Act) ACC is required to report ‘belief
of risk of harm to the public’ based on information col ected while processing claims for treatment
injury, or those that are in the nature of claims for treatment injury.
The purpose of risk of harm reporting is to provide information to support the prevention of harm to
patients in the health sector. ACC is currently working with key health agencies, regulatory and
professional health bodies, medical indemnity insurers and clinicians to update the risk of harm
reporting process. This is intended to provide information and insight to support the health sector to
improve patient safety.
ACC does not carry out any investigations of cases that have been notified to the relevant bodies under
section 284 of the AC Act. Therefore, ACC does not hold any information relating to questions two to
five of your request for this subset of risk of harm reports. We are therefore refusing to answer
questions two to five of your request, for this set of risk of harm reports, under section 18(g) of the Act.
ACC’s Treatment Injury team col ects information on the facility where the treatment was provided and
the treatment context/speciality but not (generally) the names of the individual providers. In rare cases,
it is clear that a risk of harm arose from the action of a single healthcare professional but in the majority
of cases, multiple professionals were involved, and the risk arose from the system of working rather
than the actions of a single provider.
For this reason, we are only providing the number of reports under section 284 that were made to
MCNZ between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019, by treatment context/speciality in which
treatment was provided. The data in the table provided was extracted on 23 March 2020 and may differ
if extracted at a later date.

Accident Compensation Corporation
Page 2 of 3

GOV-003889

Number of risk of harm reports by treatment specialty sent to the New Zealand Medical Council
(NZMC) by ACC between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019

Treatment Specialty
Report Count
General Practice
58
Maternity
27
Ophthalmology
17
General Surgery
13
Emergency Medicine
12
Pathology
5
Gynaecology
4
Radiology
4
Neurosurgery
3
Urology
2
Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT)
1
Neurology
1
Oncology
1
Orthopaedics
1
Paediatric Medicine
1
Plastic and Burns
1
Radiotherapy
1
Total
152

How to contact us
If you have any questions, you can email me at [email address].

If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Information about how to do this is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800
802 602.

Nāku iti noa, nā

Sasha Wood
Acting Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement & Support
Accident Compensation Corporation
Page 3 of 3

Document Outline