ACC turning down surgery

Accident victims who applied to ACC for surgery have been turned down on the grounds that their injuries were the result of "prior conditions" or "a gradual process", Opposition MPs said in Parliament yesterday.

Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton said that in the first six months of last year nearly double the number of people applying for elective surgery were declined, compared with the same period in 2008.

ACC Minister Nick Smith said the corporation was "quite properly being more thorough" in ensuring levy payers funded surgery that was the result of an accident, rather than of ageing or a degenerative process.