Accident Compensation Corporation

Maternal Birth Injury Services

The Minister for ACC Hon Carmel Sepuloni has proposed that the Accident Compensation Act is amended to extend accident cover to a specific list of maternal birth injuries as accidents.

If passed by Parliament, the maternal birth injury changes in the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill are expected to come into effect from 1 October 2022.
Information on the progress of this legislation is available on the Parliament website.

In preparation for this, ACC is designing new pathways for birthing parents, whānau and providers so appropriate care and treatment is available for our clients from this date.

As part of meeting our obligations as a Te Tiriti partner and ensuring equitable access, te ao Māori perspectives and practices will be actively woven into how we design the service.

This includes ongoing engagement with health professionals, sector groups, Māori clinicians, and birthing parents and whānau with lived experience to ensure our service offering meets the diverse needs of our hāpori and communities.

Opportunity
ACC is now in a position to begin engaging more widely with health providers across the motu, to prepare for go-live on 1 October 2022.

We will shortly be asking for expressions of interest to be part of the first tranche of providers to deliver Maternal Birth Injury services.

This process will give us time to pre-qualify interested suppliers while we draft the new contracted service.
ACC expects the following types of providers may have the appropriate skills or expertise to deliver this service:
• Midwives
• Obstetricians
• Gynaecologists
• GPs • Kaupapa Māori health service providers
• Rongoā Māori practitioners
• Pelvic health physiotherapists
• Counsellors

However, this is not an exhaustive list and we would welcome any providers who deliver treatment and care to birthing parents to take part in this process.