08 November 2023
John finnegan
[FYI request #24448 email]
Kia ora John
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-028402
Thank you for your email of 15 October 2023, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
•
I would like to now the total number of claims made between 2018 and now for nerve damage.
•
How many claims related to nerve damage caused by surgery and were claimed as a treatment
related injury.
•
How many were accepted
•
How many nerve injuries were ulnar nerves
•
How many nerve injuries went on to PIC assessments.
•
How many of these PIC assessments were accepted
•
The percentage assessments of impairment assessed as a PIC relating to nerve injuries and ulnar
nerve injuries
A treatment injury (TI) is a personal injury caused as a result of seeking or receiving medical treatment
from, or at the direction of, a registered health professional
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.
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.
Nerve damage TI claims
Some details pertaining to TI claims are not recorded until a cover decision has been made. Therefore, the
data provided has been extracted for TI claims where a cover decision was made between 1 January 2018
and 21 October 2023, where the claim included the term 'ulnar nerve'. The data was extracted on
30 October 2023 and may differ if re-run at a later date.
Table 1. Nerve related treatment injury claims that resulted from surgical events, for claims where a
cover decision was made between 1 January 2018 and 21 October 2023
Treatment Injury Decision
Not related to surgical events
Related to surgical events
Total
Accept
1,497
1,723
3,220
Decline
461
554
1,015
Total
1,958
2,277
4,235
Table 2. TI claims where ‘ulnar nerve’ was mentioned, for claims where a cover decision was made
between 1 January 2018 and 21 October 2023
Treatment Injury Decision
Ulnar Nerve not mentioned
Ulnar Nerve mentioned
Total
Accept
2,979
241
3,220
Decline
978
37
1,015
Total
3,957
278
4,235
GOV-028402 Page 1 of 2
Number of claims that went through PIC assessment process and level of impairment
To ascertain these details, we would have to manual y review thousands of nerve related treatment injury
claims in ACC’s claim management system, Eos. Therefore, we are refusing this part of your request as it
would require substantial collation and research to complete. This decision has been made under section
18(f) of the Act.
In doing so, we considered extending the time limit to respond to your request and applying a charge (as
allowed under the Act). However, neither of these were offered as responding using either option would
still have unreasonably interfered with the everyday functions of the team(s) involved.
However, we can advise that between 1 January 2018 and 30 October 2023, there have been 113 accepted
nerve damage claims that have received independence al owance or lump sum compensation payments. Of
these, only one claim was related to ulnar nerve damage.
If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me a
t [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-028402 Page 2 of 2
Document Outline
