Edition No.67

Welcome

In this edition I’m delighted to report that the implementation of Pathway for workers compensation has been a success, and all our tribunal users across workers compensation and motor accidents are now on one single digital platform. This is a tremendous achievement which has been one of the Commission’s highest priorities since establishment. I congratulate the many people who have contributed to the delivery of this important initiative and give my sincere thanks to all our stakeholders who have worked with us throughout the planning and implementation stages.

I would like to remind practitioners of the requirements of Procedural Direction PIC 6 (PD PIC 6) in respect to applications for permanent impairment under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (the 2017 Act) and how the Commission will be dealing with these applications from 1 July 2024.

I’m also pleased to advise that the Commission has bolstered its resources to help explain our processes to injured people and other tribunal users, with the release of seven videos which will complement the suite of fact sheets published earlier this year.

Finally, last week, I had the pleasure of addressing the Independent Review Office’s Sydney Seminar and spoke on a variety of topics, including Pathway and our new videos. A link to my full speech is below.

I will be in touch with another edition of the Personal Injury Commission News soon.

Regards, 

Judge Gerard Phillips
President

Workers compensation users successfully transitioned to the Pathway Platform

The Commission’s single, digital ‘Pathway’ dispute management platform launched successfully to workers compensation users last week. They joined our motor accidents users who have been using the platform across the last year.

The launch marked the completion of one of the Commission’s most important missions since it was created - to have all staff, decision makers and parties engaging online in the one place in a similar way.

The implementation ran smoothly, with only a limited number of low-level performance issues that are to be expected with the launch of any technology platform. We would like to thank the small number of you who experienced difficulties across the first days for your patience while we resolved them.

Thank you to everyone who invested the time to learn how to use the platform ahead of launch via our comprehensive program of education, training and communication. Learning materials for our parties, including user guides, eLearning modules and frequently asked questions are available on the Commission website should you need to reference them moving forward.

We now move into a further phase of the Pathway Program that will see enhancements to the platform based on user feedback and to support operational changes (e.g. the 500-page limit) rolled out across the next year.

Procedural Direction PIC 6

Practitioners are reminded of the requirements of Procedural Direction PIC 6 (PD PIC 6) to ensure sufficient evidence is provided in permanent impairment disputes under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (the 2017 Act).

Section 1.7(2) of the 2017 Act provides that if an injured person receives both a physical injury and a psychological or psychiatric injury arising out of the same motor accident, the disputes must be assessed separately.

From 1 July 2024, for applications which involve both a physical and psychological dispute, both disputes will only progress if they each have sufficient evidence in support of the degree of permanent impairment as asserted by the party. This aligns with section 7.20(3) of the 2017 Act and PD PIC 6 cl 15 which states, “the President can refuse to accept the referral by a party to a claim of a dispute about the degree of permanent impairment if the party has provided insufficient evidence in support of the degree of permanent impairment asserted by the party.” 

If only one dispute type has sufficient evidence, Registry will accept the application and notify the parties that the compliant dispute will be referred for assessment by a medical assessor. The non-compliant dispute will not be referred for assessment, and parties will be advised to submit a fresh application when they have sufficient evidence in support of the degree of permanent impairment.

Under cl 17 of PD PIC 6, a party must lodge medical evidence in support of the degree of permanent impairment qualified by a treating health practitioner, or a practitioner authorised by the Motor Accident Guidelines to give evidence in the proceedings (this includes a general or specialist registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency). Otherwise, the medical evidence will be inadmissible under section 7.52 of the 2017 Act.

If the evidence in support of the application for assessment of permanent impairment does not include a report from a treating health practitioner or authorised health practitioner that supports the degree of permanent impairment asserted by the party, the application is to include submissions addressing how the admissible evidence supports their assertion about the degree of permanent impairment.

New videos explain Commission processes

The Commission has this week published seven videos to help explain some of its key processes to tribunal users, particularly injured claimants and workers.

Each video features one of the Commission’s own people and has been scripted to provide information in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

They are part of our response to the Report on the Outcome of the two-year Statutory Review of the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020, published last year by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority.

Together with 11 fact sheets published earlier this year, they will help tribunal users navigate some of the Commission’s key processes, such as steps in the dispute resolution process, the publication of decisions, and what to expect when attending a range of Commission events.

Our videos and fact sheets are all available on our website at https://www.pi.nsw.gov.au/resources/fact-sheets-videos.

We encourage practitioners to share these resources with their clients and welcome feedback on any other topics tribunal users would like covered.

IRO Sydney Seminar

Earlier this week the President addressed the Independent Review Office’s eighth annual Sydney Seminar, to provide an update on the Personal Injury Commission.

Topics included Pathway; how the Commission is addressing increased workers compensation filings, including through recruitment; the 500-page limit rule to be introduced in 2024/25; the Commission’s response to the Two-Year Review of the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020; a summary of several important decisions concerning the Commission; and the conduct of appeals in the Workers Compensation Division.

You can read a copy of the speech on the Commission’s website

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