Hospital ACC bill costs millions
Taxpayers have forked out tens of millions of dollars in ACC claims to Waikato patients injured during treatment.
And the bill is only getting larger, with claim costs in the Waikato skyrocketing 62 per cent since July 2013.
Figures provided to Waikato Times show $40.5 million in ACC claims have been paid out to patients treated at Waikato, Tokoroa, Thames, Te Kuiti and Taumarunui hospitals between July 2013 and June 2017.
Nearly a third of all treatment injuries relate to infections, with almost $9m paid out in claims over four years.
Treatment injuries are classed as those suffered after treatment from a registered health professional.
During the past financial year, 1204 Waikato claims were paid out by ACC at a cost of $13.2m. In comparison, ACC paid out 699 claims in 2013/14 at a cost of $8.1m.
ACC staffer Melanie Lynskey said the number and rate of claims had steadily increased since treatment injury provisions came into force in 2005.
Driving the growth had been an increase in patient numbers across the health sector, as well as efforts to encourage more reporting of treatment injuries, along with greater ‘‘risk factors’’ of quality and patient safety Dr Doug Stephenson said surgeons and health professionals never set out to hurt anyone, but when it did happen, it was important to own up to it and submit a claim to ACC.
Stephenson said the increase in ACC claims for treatment injuries didn’t reflect a decline in standards at the Waikato DHB.
‘‘Things such as an infection are a significant event in somebody’s life and it could mean surgery and time off work, so we want to be proactive and we want that notification to get to ACC,’’ he said.
‘‘I believe the increase in numbers is more of a reflection of the improvements in getting the notifications to ACC. I also believe we did significantly more procedures in 2016/17 compared to the 2013/14 year.’’
After infections, the most common treatment injuries were perineal injuries, haematomas, pressure and nerve injuries, allergic reactions, skin injuries and hernias.
Stephenson said the DHB was currently undertaking a thorough review of its surgical programme and this would look at surgical wound infections.
However, not all infections defined as treatment injuries happened at the time of surgery, he said.
‘‘The actual procedure might go well, but three to six months later, the patient may get some type of infection that gets into their bloodstream. That infection could get into a joint or a device and even though it wasn’t related to the initial surgery, it’s still counted as a treatment injury infection.’’
ACC determines whether a case qualifies as a treatment injury.
About 75 per cent of cases submitted by the Waikato DHB are accepted by ACC. Stephenson said the care provided at the DHB was of the ‘‘highest standard’’.
In 2016, 11 patients suffered fractures as a result of falls.
In 2017, that number was reduced to one.
‘‘In 2016, we had a series of falls leading to fractures and it was a big deal for us. To go from being one of the worst outliers in New Zealand to one of the best just in that following year shows how seriously it was taken,’’ Stephenson said.