Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:616;Page:11907] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister for ACC 
: Is she satisfied with Accident Compensation Corporation’s rehabilitation policy; if so why? 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister for ACC) 
: 
 The accident compensation legislation puts heavy emphasis on rehabilitation—the strongest emphasis ever. Rehabilitation is a dynamic process and the Accident Compensation Corporation is constantly working towards improvements for better quality and timely outcomes for claimants. This includes finding better ways to work with those claimants. The corporation’s philosophy is consistent with the legislation and on that basis I am satisfied that its approach is well founded. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is the Minister aware that Accident Compensation Corporation rehabilitation programmes such as the work preparation programme provided by Alpha Consultants in the Waikato require accident victims to undertake a nasal enema by pouring water into their noses sit cross-legged on the floor with their thumbs in their ears humming and also being forced to stand in a paddock and laugh at each other; if so how can she have any confidence whatsoever that such seemingly pointless exercises provide any genuine rehabilitative qualities or effect? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: It is a temptation to say that is quite enough information but it is new information to me. It is information that I find very interesting and I will be following it up with some vigour. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: What proportion of accident compensation claimants are successfully rehabilitated within a year of their injury? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I am advised that over 90 percent of claimants are successfully rehabilitated measured by a combination of the rate of return to work and positive assessments of claimants gaining maximum independence. By world standards this is a first-class achievement. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What checks are undertaken by the Accident Compensation Corporation to ensure that people who are delivering these rehabilitative programmes are sane and subject to appropriate scrutiny thereby ensuring that accident victims are not captured by PC evangelists intent on preaching their own non-scientific feel-good nonsense theories at the expense of the taxpayer and how would that help a woman with a shoulder injury? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: The purpose of the work preparation programme is to ensure that claimants have assistance particularly those claimants who have been away from work for some time and may be having difficulty re-entering the workforce. I am not sure that there is any psychiatric evaluation of the individual providers but I am confident that the contracts the Accident Compensation Corporation issues to those providers have a very high outcome measurement and I will be reporting to that member on the outcome measurements for the particular provider that he raised in the earlier supplementary question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: When the Minister is providing us with this information can she also inform the House as to how many people are forced to attend such rehabilitative programmes and is this an example of the systematic nationwide scheme in action or is it a case of one fruit loop having slipped through her inept quality control systems? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I understand that the work preparation programme is a 6-week course which is being run by a variety of providers nationwide. 
Hon Mark Gosche 
: Has the Minister received any reports recently on the satisfaction rates of accident compensation claimants? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Yes I have. I can report to the House that the percentage of claimant satisfaction as used in a measure through an independent survey has increased from 71 percent in September 2001 to 83 percent in June 2003. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table a synopsis of the aforementioned treatment delivered to a constituent which included her viewing  
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 
. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.