FREEDOM OF INFORMATION DOCUMENTS REVEAL WORKCOVER SPENDING MILLIONS ON DOCTORS INSTEAD OF INJURED SOUTH AUSTRALIANS

8 May 2011

The State Government's workers compensation scheme is wasting millions of dollars each year on doctors which should be spent on getting injured South Australians back to work.

SA Unions State Secretary, Janet Giles says doctors are paid fees to sit on Medical Panels, which were created by the Rann Government in 2008 as part of changes to workers compensation laws.

"These Panels are so secretive that we were forced to lodge a Freedom of Information request to get information about their costs and operations because under the law they are not required to report to anyone - not even WorkCover.

"The documents reveal that in the 18 months between April 2009 and December 2010, WorkCover spent $17.6m paying doctors to sit on Medical Panels."

"A major concern is that under the legislation they are empowered to stray into areas that are non-medical - for instance, giving advice to injured South Australians about the kinds of jobs they should be looking for.  Doctors are not qualified to know about the skills required for jobs, let alone whether vacancies for the jobs exist in the first place."

"While we have no problem with professionals being paid for their time, our problem is with the wrong headed priorities of the Rann Government's Workers Compensation Act."

"These payments divert money that could be used for injured South Australian workers and are paid for from business levies.  Yet we also found that very few self-insured employers even use them.  They are overwhelmingly used by the agent of WorkCover, Employers Mutual, who send people to the Panels in order to reduce or remove their payments.  In fact, we suspect Employers Mutual are using the Panels to manage claims rather than assist in determining medical matters".

"That money - $17.6m - could instead be used to re-train injured workers and find them employment or better treat their injury so they can remain in, or return to their jobs."

Medical Panels are responsible for determining if workers have capacity for work.  If they determine an injured person has ANY capacity (even one hour a week) after 130 weeks they are kicked off the scheme.

The doctor see the worker for up to an hour and make this decision.  There is no right for the worker to be represented and the decision of the Panel is final and binding with no right of appeal.

"These Panels are an unfair, costly and unnecessary part of the workers compensation system and should be abolished or significantly reformed as part of the review of the current legislation."

"From this information we now know that Mike Rann's experiment in changing the workers compensation law misdirects funds away from the real need which is to assist injured workers to get better and return to work", Ms Giles says.