In most common law jurisdictions, when someone injures someone else, the person injured can sue the other person for causing that injury. This is referred to as “personal injury” law.
In New Zealand, as a result of a Royal Commission in the 1960s and 70s led by Sir Owen Woodhouse (a justice of the Court of Appeal), New Zealand implemented a statutory prohibition on suing for personal injury and substituted instead a statutory scheme that led to state entitlements for injury and the consequences of an injury caused in any form.
This is commonly referred to as “the ACC scheme” in New Zealand and it is funded through a mixture of levies and a public investment fund worth more than NZD $60 billion, and administered by a Crown Entity called the Accident Compensation Corporation.
In reality, personal injury - as the causation, treatment and prevention of injury and other health related conditions - is dealt with through a range of entities that have sprung up due to the gap left by the abolition of personal injury litigation. One example is the Health and Disability Commissioner, that investigates poor quality treatment and patients’ rights given these topics are no longer dealt with through suing for medical misadventure.