13 September 2022
H Rogers
[FYI request #20238 email]
Kia ora H Rogers
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-019973
Thank you for your request of 16 August 2022 under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), asking for
the following information about accepted surgical mesh claims from 1 January 2020 to 1 August 2022:
•
It would be helpful if you could categorise the payments for treatment, rehab or compensation for
lost wages.
•
the total amount of paid out between these two dates highest payment lowest payment average
payment.
Background information about treatment injury data
A treatment injury is a personal injury caused as a result of seeking or receiving medical treatment from a
registered health professional. In order to fulfil the criteria for cover, the person must have suffered a
personal injury and there must be a clear causal link between the treatment and the injury, and the injury
must not be a necessary part or ordinary consequence of the treatment.
When considering treatment injury data, it is important to note that the number of claims lodged with ACC
cannot be taken as an accurate indication of the occurrence of injury during treatment or the quality of
care. This is because, among other reasons, not all occurrences of injury during treatment are lodged with
ACC.
More information on treatment injury is available
at www.acc.co.nz/for-providers/treatment-
recovery/treatment-safety/. There are three broad categories of costs (entitlements) a claim could receive:
• Compensation (weekly compensation for lost earnings, lump sums, and death benefits)
• Treatment (initial hospital treatment and on-going primary and secondary treatment)
• Rehabilitation support (physical rehabilitation and various forms of personal support).
Payments made on accepted surgical mesh claims broken down into three main categories of
entitlements
Surgical mesh is a medical device commonly used for abdominal surgical wounds such as hernia repairs.
Mesh is also used for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
The table below indicates the payments and the number of surgical mesh claims accepted between 1
January 2020 and 1 August 2022, broken down into the three main categories of entitlements.
Compensation
Rehabilitation
Treatment
Payments (GST exclusive)
$2,593,197
$466,208
$5,305,394
Number of claims (*)
231
132
529
* A claim can have multiple types of payments.
GOV-019973 Page 1 of 2
Among those claims accepted between 1 January 2020 and 1 August 2022, the maximum payment for a
claim was $334,020, the average was $15,209 and the minimum was a payment less than $100 from a
recently accepted claim. These amounts include treatment, rehabilitation and weekly compensation where
it is applicable.
Please note those amounts may include payments made before the claim was accepted, or after 1 August
2022, and up to the data extraction date of 12 September 2022.
Our response does not include the costs of treatment in a public hospital during the acute phase of an
injury which are covered by the Public Health Acute Services (PHAS). These costs are funded through an
annual service agreement between the Minister of Health and the Minister for ACC.
This information may be of interest to other members of the public
ACC may decide to proactively release a copy of this response on ACC’s website. The released response will
be made available
www.acc.co.nz/resources/#/category/12. If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me
at [email address]. If you are not happy with this response, you can also contact the Ombudsman via
[email address] or by phoning 0800 802 602. Information about how to make a complaint
is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz Ngā mihi
Sara Freitag
Acting Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement
GOV-019973 Page 2 of 2
