10 December 2021
Anthony Jordan
[FYI request #17587 email] Tēnā koe Anthony
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-015396
Thank you for your two emails of 16/11/2021, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
1.
Number of Psychiatrists Contracted to Appear on Multi-Discipline Panel from date Established to
Date of Demise (Please note: Do not disclose names or any such address that may identify
individual)
2.
Number of Psychiatrists Contracted to Appear on Multi-Discipline Panel from date Established to
Date of Demise who were not in Private Practice
3.
Number of Psychiatrists Contracted to Appear on Multi-Discipline Panel from date Established to
Date of Demise that were reported to the ACC with concerns by Claimants for their alleged
Conduct and/or Professionalism and/or any such complaint
4.
Number of Psychiatrists Contracted to Appear on Multi-Discipline Panel from date Established to
Date of Demise that were bought to the attention in the Media for any type of questionable
conduct or public matters
5.
Number of Psychiatrists Contracted to Appear on Multi-Discipline Panel from date Established to
Date of Demise that were involved in any Legal Proceedings outside of ACC
6.
Complaints made to the ACC by Claimants of any type of concern to do with the Panel
On 23 November we emailed you to clarify whether you were referring to the External Medical Panel
(the Panel) in your request. You replied on 23 November confirming that you were.
Number of Psychiatrists on External Medical Panel
Due to the disestablishment of the Panel in late 2018, and the recent changes in the way that ACC stores
information, we have not been able to locate the number of Psychiatrists that were contracted to serve
as panel members. Therefore, we are refusing this request under section 18(e) of the Act, as despite
reasonable efforts, the information cannot be found.
Information not held by ACC
ACC does not hold information on much of which is requested, including:
• Number of Psychiatrists who were not in private practice
• Number of Psychiatrists contracted that were bought to the attention in the media
• Number of Psychiatrists that were involved in any legal proceedings outside of ACC
These parts of the request are being refused under section 18(g) of the Act, as the information is not
held by ACC. All clinicians were appropriately selected following endorsements from their professional
bodies as an appropriate expert.
Complaints related to the External Medical Panel
We were able to track recorded complaints against claims which were, at any stage, reviewed by the
panel. In order to identify which complaints are relevant to the panel, a manual search of the feedback
case description was undertaken. The feedback description is a small paragraph or a few sentences
which offers a description of the feedback/complaint when the complaints are recorded. It should not
GOV-015396
be considered as a perfectly accurate data collation method. Of the complaints identified, seven
mentioned the panel.
Notes on the data
• The data is based on Customer Feedback cases created in Eos. This type of case is used by the
Customer Resolutions team to manage customer complaints, including complaints about
accredited employers and third-party administrators.
• This search has been included to help give a rough estimate of how many complaint cases are
related to the panel. The search isn't comprehensive and should be interpreted only as an
indicative estimate.
• Data was extracted on 1 December 2021 and may differ if rerun later.
Who to contact
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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