A Christchurch mother, whose 12-year-old daughter is still struggling with headaches five years after being hit by a ute, has just won a battle with ACC to continue her education support funding. However, Racheal Priestley says she thinks the whole system is designed to make people give up. Lisa Davies reports.
When 1News met the pair, Racheal was showing Sophie photos of her injuries for the first time. Sophie reacted by saying, “I look like I’ve got beaten”.
Her mum replied: “You were kind of beaten.”
The photos are from when she was seven, and in hospital after running out in front of a ute. The vehicle had bull bars, was towing a trailer and travelling down Colombo St at 45km/h.
The collision left the little girl with abrasions on her face, and missing four teeth.
Sophie said at the time, “my brothers used to call me toothless cause I had no teeth”.
Before Sophie’s accident she’d already been diagnosed with ADHD and autism. That’s where the family said their struggles with ACC began.
Racheal said people were ascribing the symptoms to the disability rather than the head injury.
“For ACC to say there’s no head injury, yet she lost teeth and had no teeth for a year, the impact to her head must have been pretty significant.”
Their lawyer and ACC client advocate Jason Lister told 1News ACC had “haggled” for several years whether Sophie should have cover for concussion in addition to other injuries.
“You’d have to say that a seven-year-old versus a ute, a presumption of a concussive injury would be pretty much a given. But, in Sophie’s case, she struggled against ACC.”
After a four-year fight, ACC agreed to pay for classroom support for Sophie following review proceedings and a conciliation process.
Part of the review involved an assessment by a paediatric neurologist, which resulted in ACC agreeing to fund some learning support.
However, when it recently declined the funding, the specialist assessment was not done.
Racheal said her daughter had been struggling following the accident and to this day.
“There’s been a big shift in her sleeping patterns, Sophie would get fatigued very easily and Sophie would become dizzy unexpectedly and bad headaches, coming home from school in quite a lot of pain. She was falling behind academically.”
But she said once the ACC funded support began, “all of a sudden she was making gains and was able to concentrate and achieve”.
So, when ACC contacted her last Wednesday to say it had declined a continuation of the funding, she got in contact with 1News in desperation.
‘Took another look at Sophie’s case’
1News emailed ACC to ask why the funding had ended. Five hours later, the agency told the family it had decided to continue it after all.
In a statement, ACC said it recognised Sophie’s case was complex and the agency was “committed to ensuring she receives the support she needs”.
“Sophie has a covered claim with ACC from the concussion she suffered as a result of an accident. ACC was funding support at school for Sophie, which falls under our Training for Independence category. The allocated block of support had ended, and we initially declined a continuation.
“However, last week as part of our internal review process we took another look at Sophie’s case and decided to approve the funding.
“We have communicated to Sophie’s parents that the support at school will continue to be funded by ACC.”
While it was great news for Sophie, Lister said ACC needed to fast-track dispute resolution as the Priestley family’s predicament was not unusual.
“The average time for a review application is about 200 days. If TVNZ can resolve it in two days then they should set themselves up as advocates because it’s a service that we can’t provide.”
He said those advocating for ACC clients around the country would be frustrated to see this happen.
“When we launch a review application, we want quick resolution,” he told 1News.
ACC’s own figures showed it declined around 140,000 entitlement applications last year, Lister said, with the majority just accepting the rejection.
“Whether ACC is aware only 7.4% of people challenge the adverse decision that’s issued, I don’t know.
“Anything I say about ACC, it’s a fantastic organisation on the whole. I only deal with things that go wrong but when they go wrong they’re significant, like in Sophie’s case.”
The new decision from ACC extended Sophie’s funding for another 10 weeks. The Priestley family hoped when it came to an end they would not face with a new battle to have her support continued.
Racheal said: “I feel like the system’s designed to fail so people don’t end up with the support they need.”
ACC independent reviews
Sophie’s struggle with the Government’s Accident Compensation Corporation came as two independent reviews into the agency’s performance continued.
1News sought an update on the reviews from ACC Minister Scott Simpson. His office pointed to a statement from Andrew Bayly in February, as the then-minister in charge.
It said: “Over the last 10 years, ACC’s performance has steadily decreased. Costs are up, with levies struggling to keep up. Meanwhile, rehabilitation rates are down, slowing down people’s return to independence following an accident.”
Bayly outlined the focus of the two reviews, with one looking at its operations and case management and the other centred on ACC’s investment strategy.
“I have met with both review teams and have been clear about my expectation that they deliver actionable recommendations to improve ACC’s performance,” he said.
He stated progress reports were due next month and final reports were due by June.
“I will be holding ACC accountable to its fundamental purpose, which is to prevent injuries and get Kiwis back to independence as quickly as possible after an accident.”
