28 January 2016
Lee M
[FYI request #3500 email]
Dear Lee M
Official Information Act Requests
Thank you for your follow up questions of 26 January 2016 in regard to information provided
by ACC under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). Your questions and ACC’s
responses are set out below.
Branch Medical Advisor opinions
You objected to ACC’s response to your first question and reframed it. The Act concerns
information held
by an agency and ACC interpreted your initial request as asking for
documents that matched the scenario you set out. To answer your revised questions in
accordance with the Act, ACC’s response is framed in general terms. This is because
seeking data to verify this as a fact would require a manual search of every claim and would
be refused under section 18(f) of the Act because the information cannot be made available
without substantial collation or research.
In response therefore:
Question 1 - part 1: (primary issue)
Are Branch Medical Advisor "opinions" ever requested by ACC management and/or staff
purely in response to a client submitting new medical evidence?
Branch Medical Advisor opinions are requested from time to time by ACC management and
staff in response to new medical evidence being submitted by a client.
Question 1 - part 2: (primary issue)
Are Branch Medical Advisor "opinions" requested solely for the purpose of using this
information at a review hearing?
It is also possible that Branch Medical Advisor opinions are requested from time to time by
ACC management and staff for the sole purpose of presenting this information at a review
hearing.
Question 1 - part 3: (supplementary issue) Does an ACC policy, procedure, guideline or
rule provide for either or both of the abovementioned situations, and if so please provide
me with copies of same.
There is no ACC policy, procedure, guideline or rule that provides for either or both of the
abovementioned situations. Therefore this part of your request is declined under section
18(e) of the Act.
Correction of review applications
In reply to ACC’s response regarding the ability to correct information in review applications,
you submitted that: “There are no grounds to refuse my requests under questions 2 and 3
and I am now insisting that you provide me with this information without further delay.”
In response, we reiterate that ACC has no legislative obligation to correct information held by
the reviewer for the purpose of review. As you point out, the reviewer is not subject to
Privacy Act 1993 or Health Information Privacy Code 1994 and is therefore not subject to
Information Privacy Principle 7 or Rule 7 respectively.
If you disagree with our further response to your questions, you have the right to complain to
the Office of the Ombudsman. You can call them on 0800 802 602 between 9am and 5pm
on weekdays, or write to The Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Yours sincerely
Government Services
Government Services