Farmer who 'made good decision' left with bill

Two National Party MPs have joined a row over ACC's refusal to pay an Otago farmer's $1237 bill for calling a private helicopter company to pick up a musterer with a broken leg.

ACC said it opposed calling private helicopters as the first response to an injured person.

MPs David Carter and Paul Hutchison said Associate Health Minister Ruth Dyson, who has responsibility for ACC, needed to sort out her priorities to make sure the right people were getting the support they needed.

This week Otago Labour MP David Parker said ACC "ought not to be overly rule-bound" but needed some control over the system because it paid for accident emergency transport.

Farmer Richard Burdon made the call in May when musterer Colin Anderson, 47, of Lake Hawea, was knocked over by a rock slide.

Mr Burdon was with him and, because his cellphone battery was going flat, immediately called Alpine Helicopters pilot Toby Wallis, of Wanaka.

He did this rather than dialling 111 and having a long conversation with someone who did not know the area, according to Mr Anderson and Otago National Party candidate Jacqui Dean, who has taken up the issue.

Mr Anderson was flown to Wanaka Medical Centre.

Mr Burdon asked ACC to pay for the helicopter but it declined. However, ACC would have paid if Mr Burdon had called 111 first, said Mrs Dean. "It is a bit stiff for rural people to be penalised for making good decisions in the heat of the moment," she said.

"While I accept ACC must have rules, you'd have to say that this was a genuine emergency."

Mr Anderson's partner, Glenis Rotch, said the men were working at least 10km from the nearest house in an area inaccessible to ambulances.

"The silly part about it is Colin could have had to wait for up to three hours for an air ambulance to come up from Queenstown," she said.

Mr Anderson said he was in shock but able to sit in the helicopter.

ACC media adviser Richard Braddell said that placing a person with an unstable injury in an improperly equipped helicopter might delay recovery and threaten life.

ACC insisted on calls coming through 111 so qualified personnel could assess the urgency and need, and advise local hospitals and ground ambulances.

 

- NZPA