“We’re pleased to say that the transition has gone smoothly.”
Alarmingly, Dr. Peter Jansen the senior clinical directorate who is in charge of these changes recently sent a letter where he made the above statement!
The story is very different in reality, and we are starting to hear horrific stories of confusion and incompetence. Stories like:
- A person being denied cover for being raped in a psychiatric hospital, due to “pre-existing mental illness.”
- Multiple stories of three month delays and longer for claim decisions.
- A claim being declined as ACC “required” information from a GP, but the client did not have a GP.
- Childhood abuse, by another older child being described in writing as “sexualised play, and unlikely to have been traumatic.”
With these stories emerging I find myself increasingly wondering is it possible to work in this system, to knowingly inflict this kind of invalidation and uncertainty on clients? I don’t know the answer to that yet, but I know organisations are debating whether or not this new treatment pathway is ethical.
Personally I feel torn; I continue to feel passionate about the work, and know how much this funding has helped my clients over the years, and I am committed to seeing my current clients through to the end of their funding, but I am considering any new referral on a case by case basis, and fully informing any potential client of the level of dysfunction and chaos that seems to dominate within the unit currently.
Lastly as a group we are trying to measure how many clinicians are no longer seeing ACC clients, and so if you’re an ACC registered clinician we would appreciate you filling out this brief survey to help with that aim:
Click Here to take survey
