14 February 2022
Jan Magee
[FYI request #18149 email]
Tēnā koe Jan
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-016233
Thank you for your email of 11 January 2022, asking for the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
I seek information in relation to the number of requests for cover for a physical injury of
metallosis (metal ion disease) as either a consequential injury or a treatment injury for all types
of hip replacement protheses and the number of accepted claims for same
Background information about treatment injury data
Before responding to your request, we would first like to provide you with some background
information about treatment injuries.
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 al occurrences of injury during treatment are
lodged with ACC.
Context
Treatment injury (TI) data is available from 1 July 2005, when treatment injury provisions came into law.
The ACC website contains further information on treatment injury
https://www.acc.co.nz/for-
providers/treatment-safety/.
A ful overview of treatment injury in public and private surgical hospitals and general practice settings is
available at
https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/provider/ACC7971-Supporting-Treatment-Safety-2021.pdf.
Claim lodgement rates are dependent on several factors. They can be influenced by:
•
population demography i.e. the characteristics of the resident population, visitors and
referred patients
•
health status of the population treated
•
what level of facility the organisation provides i.e. tertiary versus secondary
•
familiarity of health providers or clients in recognising and/or lodging treatment injury
claims.
GOV-016233
Treatment injury data
The treatment injury data provided below was extracted on 3 February 2022 and includes claims
decided between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2021.
Claims were identified as meeting the criteria of your request if the terms
metallosis or
metalosis were
mentioned in the injury diagnosis field of the claim lodgement form, or the claim indicated
metallosis as
the primary injury.
All identified claims were clinically reviewed to confirm they al relate to hip replacements.
The number of metal osis treatment injury claims (caused by al types of hip replacement), 2017 –
2021
Accepted
Declined
Total
59
17
76
Other metallosis claims
We also conducted a search of non-treatment injury claims. Claims were identified when the accident
description or injury description include the keyword ‘metallosis’ or ‘metal ion’. Data was extracted 8
February 2022 and may differ if re-run later.
Between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2021 there have been 7 accepted non-treatment injury
claims related to metallosis. There were zero declined non-treatment injury claims in the same time
period.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can email me a
t [email address].
Nāku iti noa, nā
Sasha Wood
Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement & Support
Accident Compensation Corporation
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