Daphne Fraser​ had been given a clean bill of health by her GP, but that all ended later in the day when she decided to pop into her local mall.

The 89-year-old broke her shoulder on November 18 when she was knocked to the floor by a set of automatic sliding doors at The Mall​ in Upper Hutt. Her ordeal follows two other incidents involving women who suffered injuries from automatic doors.

It comes as Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) figures show $155,063 was paid out for 121 active claims involving automatic door-related injuries in 2020.

Last Thursday, Fraser finished a seven-week stay in hospital, and she says she’ll never be the same again. Fully independent before the accident, Fraser is now housebound, relying on visits from carers twice a day. She has limited mobility, and has partially lost use of her left arm.

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“It’s just dreadful – I’ve got all my faculties, and I was in good health, now it’s all been taken away from me.”

Her son, Andy Fraser​, accused mall staff of not taking the incident seriously, saying she had to rely on assistance from other mall-goers. He said he had to chase mall management in the weeks after to get them to log the incident with WorkSafe New Zealand.

But Andy Bell​​, property manager for mall owners Ganson Group rejected the claims, saying staff assisted Fraser’s mother, called an ambulance and contacted him shortly after the incident.

“A nurse who was present at the time also approached Mrs Fraser to offer assistance,” Bell said.

“Mrs Fraser expressed that she did not require assistance from any of those people and sat waiting for the ambulance whilst being monitored by our staff.”

He said the mall manager made several attempts to call Andy Fraser after the incident.

A WorkSafe spokesman told Stuff the organisation was advised of Daphne Fraser’s incident in December.

“As WorkSafe understands it, we were not initially notified as the business was not aware of the incident, or its seriousness.”

Bell said the sensor for the doors was adjusted after the incident to prevent further accidents. He did not clarify when asked if the doors had malfunctioned.

Age Concern chief executive Stephanie Clare​ said despite the recent run of incidents involving elderly people and automatic doors, such events were not common. Nevertheless, she said such incidents needed to be examined in a thoughtful way when they did occur.

People 65 and older had a higher chance of suffering injuries that could severely affect their health following a fall, she said.

Figures from ACC show that last year, 108 new claims were made to the authority about automatic door-related injuries. A further 10 new claims were lodged involving a garage door.

Of the total 118 new claims made last year, 73 caused complainants soft tissue injury, 26 caused a laceration, puncture, or sting, 12 caused a fracture or dislocation, and seven had an “other” primary injury diagnosis.

Of the 108 claims involving an automatic door that was not a garage, 33 cases were in Auckland, 18 in Wellington, 13 in Waikato and 12 in Canterbury.

An ACC spokesperson said because there was considerable variability in detail provided by claimants, data should not be interpreted as definitive.

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