Dear Accident Compensation Corporation,

On 4/12/2017 another requester has made the OIA request whch can be found at the following website: https://fyi.org.nz/request/6932-medical-..., and the OIA request sought the following information which has relevant to my current circumstances involving ACC;

"Dear Accident Compensation Corporation,

1/ Please disclose names of specialists for each month from January 2017 to date, involved in Medical Panel Review hearings.

2/ Please disclose the total of cases that were deemed to be related to Concussions/Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries for respective months

Yours faithfully,

Anthony Jordan"

Pn20 February 2018, ACC confirmed that the OIA information will be provided to Mr Jordan via his personal email address, and hence this useful information is not currently available for me to be able to access.

I therefore welcome ACC Government Services provision of the same official information that has been prepared for release to Mr Jordan to be made available to myself under the OI Act.

Since this information has already been generated and is available for release I respectfully request that this information is mad available under urgency within a period of 10 working days form today's requests, and hence by the end of business close on 6th March 2018.

I thank you for your time and assistance.

Yours faithfully,

David Lawson

Dear Government Services,

Thank you for your response dated 10 March 2018 seeking interest in my request for Official Information that was originally requested by another person through FYI.org.nz and can be found at their website as follows https://fyi.org.nz/request/6932-medical-....

I note that Mr Anthony Jordan has placed an annotation dated 4 March 2018, on the above referred website, which confirms that he has been provided with the Official information that he sought originally from ACC on 4 December 2017, and that as at 1 March 2018, ACC had requested Mr Jordan's private email so that the information could be provided to him as a matter of public interest.

Whilst I am unsure as to why you have requested confirmation of why I have requested the same Official Information as Mr Jordan has, I am more than happy in this instance to provide you with my reasoning.

In answer to your questions in my regards to the first Request which seeks the following Official Information that has been supplied to Mr Jordan between 1 and 4 March 2018;

1/ Please disclose names of specialists for each month from January 2017
to date, involved in Medical Panel Review hearings.;

Answer in respect of Question 1:

Between early 2012 and today I have been involved in a number of accidents that have caused a number of classes of injuries that have been poorly recorded by both ACC and treatment providers, an issue that was raised and noted in the Corporations ACC7540 June 2016 Document titled: Read Codes, Consumer Outlook Group Update which can be found on the following website;
https://nzoa.org.nz//system/files/ACC%20...

In response I lodged a number of claim lodgments in line with section 48, and relevant subsections of the Accident Compensation Corporation Act 2001, for the poorly recorded injuries that either ACC and or the treatment provider failed to lodge, or incorrectly lodged at the time of treatments/accidents.

The injuries are multiple and varied in nature requiring specialist assessment by an appropriately qualified and independent neurosurgeon, and in areas where there is no nerve damage possibly an appropriate current practicing orthopaedic surgical specialist, trained in the appropriate surgery for the joint/limb that needs corrective surgery, and or rehabilitation.

I am awaiting the provision of section 58 (2) (a), (b) & (c) deemed acceptance letters of cover notices for the additional classes of injuries claimed and previously lodged with the Corporation for which they failed to meet their time limits, thus section 58 (1) of the Accident Compensation Corporation Act 2001, statutorily has deemed the covers claimed for as being accepted for covers.

As soon as ACC provide these notices I will be able to seek the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for these injuries that have gone untreated.

This means, in due course, that I will be seeking and receiving appropriate medical assessment and imaging from medical specialists that may have been, or currently have an association with the ACC, having provided services to ACC as part of ACC's External Medical Panel.

The first reason for me seeking this Official information is to be placed in a position that I am able to be fully informed as to the extent of the medical specialists work with ACC through Medical Panel Reviews, when I seek the independent assessment and treatment for these multiple unhealed injuries.

For the majority of the untreated and unhealed injuries I will be seeking specialist care and treatment from an independent and currently practicing appropriate medical specialist who has the ability to decide whether they are able to surgically rehabilitate the injuries, and or refer me to someone who may be more experienced and or appropriate, who can treat the injuries.

I will then be placing consideration when choosing an appropriate and independent neurosurgeon and or orthopaedic surgeon depending on the body area which remains unhealed and untreated, as to what extent that that surgeon has involvement with the Corporation in respect of providing medical opinion to ACC's Medical Panel Reviews.

The second reason is that I would like to establish whether any of my past treatment providers, surgeons, doctors, physiotherapists etc and the like have had, or currently have had any involvement with ACC's Medical Panel Reviews since the beginning of 2017.

And since I am currently also in the process of updating a number of the past injuries that have not yet been claimed for, and which were caused by the accidents through the period referred above, there is the potential for the Corporation to seek medical opinion externally through one of ACC's Medical Panel Reviews, and therefore I seek to be informed prior to this having occurred the same Official information that was supplied in response to OIA Request 1/ to Mr Anthony Jordan between the 1st and 4th March 2018.

The provision of this Official information that has been provided to a member of the public within the last week, will allow me to make informed decision about who I seek further independent assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for for the unhealed, untreated injuries that I am seeking assistance with.

In response to the second OIA Question,

I have several claims for Whiplash and Concussion/Traumatic Brain Injury and have forwarded you copies of my section 48 claims that have now been deemed as covered per section 58 (1) of the ACC Act 2001.

I have forwarded this afternoon copies of the following original claims to ACC Government Services for your records, so as to prove my interest in this information;

Concussion and Midbrain injury Traumatic Brain Injury, the were lodged with ACC Claims, via Jane Harding by email, and I have sent copies of my original,

ACC Claim Number 100 2925 0341 Part 1 DOI 21/07/14
ACC Claim Number 100 2925 0341 Part 1 DOI 21/07/14
ACC Claim Number 100 2915 8387 DOI 08/08/14
ACC Claim Number 10030172374 DOI 09/01/15

I trust that this information will now allow you to release to me under urgency within the next 3 working days, being by the end of business close on Friday 9th March 2018, this Official information that was provided to Mr Anthony Jordan between 1st and 4th March 2018, and is of public interest to me for the reasons noted above.

As a reminder my email address is [email address] and I appreciate your time and assistance.

Thanks and kind regards,

David Lawson