18 May 2020
Anthony Jordan
[FYI request #12639 email]
Tēnā koe Anthony
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-004589
Thank you for your request of 17 April 2020, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Please provide per respective years from 2004 to date: (regarding Psychiatrist scope registered
practitioners only)
1/ Complaints made to the ACC from Clients/Customers/Stakeholders etc with concerns about
Psychiatrist Conduct, Professionalism, Performance, etc
2/ Complaints made to the ACC from Clients/Customers/Stakeholders etc, that were actioned
upon to the MCNZ, their respective Professional Membership, etc
3/ Complaints made to the ACC from Clients/Customers/Stakeholders etc, that were specific to
an ACC Named Provider Contract holder or any similar contract (excluding non-named provider
contract holders)
4/ Complaints made to the ACC from Clients/Customers/Stakeholders etc, that were not actioned
upon to the MCNZ, their respective Professional Membership, etc
Background information about complaints regarding providers
Complaints made to ACC from clients, customers or stakeholders about providers, such as psychiatrists,
may be made through more than one channel. For example, they can be sent to (and resolved by) ACC’s
Claims Management team or Customer Resolutions team. Where appropriate, complaints are escalated
to ACC’s Strategic Partnerships & Performance team to manage.
Records of complaints lodged with (and resolved by) ACC’s Claims Management team and Customer
Resolutions team cannot be searched by specialty. To ascertain if a complaint made to these teams was
about a psychiatrist would require us to manually read individual claim files. This would require
substantial collation and research. Therefore, we are declining to provide information related to
complaints made to these teams under section 18(f) of the Act.
In doing so, we considered extending the timeframe to respond to your request but determined that the
resources required to locate the information would have a significant impact on the everyday functions
of the teams involved.
However, records of complaints escalated to ACC’s Strategic Partnerships & Performance team can be
searched by specialty. As such, we are providing you with information related to complaints about
psychiatrists managed by ACC’s Strategic Partnerships & Performance team.
GOV-004589
Complaints about psychiatrists escalated to Strategic Partnerships and Performance team
Please note:
• The Strategic Partnerships & Performance team’s records of complaints against healthcare
providers date back only to 2010.
• The following data was extracted on 17 April 2020 and may differ if extracted again at a later
date.
Between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019, ACC’s Strategic Partnerships & Performance team was
involved with nine complaints regarding psychiatrists. Of those that required investigation by this team,
two were notified to the Medical Council of New Zealand (in 2011 and 2016 respectively) for them to
action.
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
Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement & Support
Accident Compensation Corporation
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