Presentation to the Wellington WEA, 25 July 2005.

Keywords: Social Policy;

There is one outstanding fact about New Zealand poverty. Choose any reasonable poverty line, and you will find that over 80 percent of the poor are children and their parents. The figure would be even higher if one included other adults living in households with children. The economic problem of poverty is overwhelming children and the families they live in.

Paper for the AGM of the Auckland Child Poverty Action Group, 19 July, 2004

Keywords: Social Policy;

The government has at last attempted to address child poverty. And not a year too soon, for 2004 is also the 30th anniversary of the major research paper, Poverty in New Zealand which pointed out that poverty was mainly in households with children. That one main fact about poverty in New Zealand, often gets lost behind a myriad of minor facts. The consequence is that attempts to reduce poverty are at best inefficient, and at worst ineffective. That primary fact is that a substantial majority of the poor are children and their parents and we need to target on their needs.

The ACC reforms for treatment injury should replace a culture of blame with a culture of safety.

Listener: 17 April, 2004.

Keywords: Social Policy;

A friend recovering from a serious operation was on two occasions offered medicine that was not prescribed and, once, a scan that was unnecessary. Suppose she had been unconscious, or lacked the character to know what was going on and say “no”. Whether the mistakes could have led to medical injury, I cannot tell. But they would have consumed scarce resources.

Issues and Lessons from Medical Misadventure
Paper to The Future of Accident Compensation: New Directions and Visions, Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, 5-6 December, 2003.

Keywords: Social Policy;

Introduction: The Woodhouse Vision

There seems to be common agreement that the treatment of medical misadventure should conform to the Woodhouse Principles and therefore there should be no notion of fault in its coverage. I shall not to labour this point, but it is worthwhile to remind ourselves of the Principles and how the 1966 Commission rejected fault as relevant. Their primary principles were

Keywords: Social Policy;

Executive Summary

1. That the ‘Woodhouse Principles’ be applied to assessing the options on the treatment of medical misadventure. (Section 1)

2. The fault principle which underpins medical error conflicts with the Woodhouse Principles, the Ottawa Charter and the Ministry of Health’s guidelines to reportable events, particularly in regard to prevention. (Section 2)

3. On the available information Option 3 (Unintended injury in the treatment process) is the choice which most closely fulfils these principles. (Section 3)

4. However, the consultation document does not pay sufficient attention to the prevention possibilities of the scheme, nor to the administration costs issues. Some suggestions for improvement are discussed. (Section 4)

5. The ACC should be charged with a vigorous program to reduce medical misadventure. (Section 5)

6. While the medical misadventure is currently funded as a part of the non-earners scheme, it is suggested that an ‘insurance’ levy on health professionals as a part of their ACC levy would be more appropriate. The introduction of such a levy, plus the gains from a vigorous prevention program and a reduction in compliance costs would mean that the application of option three would not add a burden to the public purse. (Section 6)