Have issues been f ixed?

ACC says it has fixed problems for people who want to challenge its decisions, but advocates say the process is still stacked against claimants.

A briefing to ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said ACC had concluded 19 of the 20 recommendations made in a 2016 review by Miriam Dean QC.

The review found it was difficult and expensive for claimants to get representation and medical expert opinion, which was critical to dispute a decision.

ACC said it had provided more information for claimants about ACC law, started work on a free ‘‘navigation service’’ for about 5000 people, given doctors more help to write reports, and designed a post-graduate course in injury causation for health care workers.

‘‘Agencies are confident initiatives implemented to date have helped address the issues identified in the Miriam Dean review,’’ the briefing said. But advocates say the actions are hollow, disappointing and would not bring meaningful change to a deeply unbalanced process.

Lees-Galloway said he had asked officials to keep him updated on further work to implement the Dean recommendations – including implementation of the advocacy service and further work on medical evidence.

ACC declines just over 100,000 claims and entitlement requests each year, out of 1.9 million claims.

In the 2017-18 financial year, 7615 claimants challenged their decisions at reviews held by disputes resolution service FairWay.

ACC Futures spokeswoman and lawyer Hazel Armstrong said ACC controlled medical evidence by paying doctors who ‘‘trotted out the same opinions’’ for every case.

Barrister and researcher Warren Forster said reimbursement for reviews and independent medical assessments remained inadequate in every case.

‘‘I’ve got one at the moment which is $6000 and the maximum we can get back is $1035.’’

Increased reimbursement costs had been recommended by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and would be made public during consultation later this year, an ACC spokesman said.