Ngā ratonga tautoko ā-kāinga Home support services

Contracted professional organisations provide home support services. These contracts are organised by:

• Whaikaha — Ministry of Disabled People
• Te Whatu Ora — Health New Zealand
• Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

Support service organisations are also called ‘providers’. Their contracts are moving away from fixed tasks and hours to a more flexible approach. This lets them work with you to maintain or improve your independence.

You must meet certain eligibility criteria to get publicly funded home support services. You will do a 'needs assessment' to make sure you are eligible for home support and that the service can meet your needs.

• Needs Assessment and Support Services for Older People: What you need to know (external link)↗
• Needs Assessment and Services Coordination services (external link)↗

Anyone receiving home support services has rights under the Code of Health and Disability Consumers’ Rights 1996.

Your rights —Health and Disability Commissioner website (external link)↗

When your home support service starts, the provider will give you an information package. It includes:

• contact details for the home support organisation
• information about the services that the organisation can provide
• how you can raise a concern or make a complaint.

You will also receive an agreement that explains exactly how the organisation will support you. You will work with them to develop a home support plan that is right for you.

Home support plan

A home support plan outlines the support you will get and the goals you can work towards to maintain or improve your independence.

Having an agreed home support plan helps everyone understand what kind of home support you will get. It also helps avoid problems like a support worker not agreeing something and they refuse.

Include your preferences in your home support plan. For example, the time of day you would like the home support worker to visit you, or your choice of support worker.

Update your plan once a year or if your needs change. Even if you only need home support services for a very short time, you should still develop a home support plan with your organisation.

Involve family in your home support plan

Ask your family, whānau, aiga and friends to be involved in developing your home support plan. This is especially important if you have issues with memory or confusion.

Sometimes your whānau will be the first to notice if your support needs change. Your home support organisation needs told about your new needs as soon as possible.

You can include family, whānau, aiga and friends in your home support services by asking them to:

• be involved when any assessments and plans are completed or reviewed
• provide feedback about the services you are receiving, using the organisation’s complaints and compliments system
• act as your advocate if you want them to.

Home support services are different from other health and disability services because support workers come into your home, often without supervision.

There is a high level of trust between you,thr organisation, and the workers that they provide the right service to support you.

Unless you tell the organisation the home support organisation cannot know what to improve.They can only rely on their workers’ feedback.

Help the organisation know about problems or ways to improve the services they provide. You can:

• do a home support organisation’s client satisfaction survey
• talk with your organisation when you have your annual review
• give feedback through the organisation’s complaints and compliments system
• contact an advocacy or consumer representative group.

Advocacy groups include:

• Health and Disability Advocacy Service
• Age Concern
• Grey Power
• Carers New Zealand
• Alzheimers New Zealand
• Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand.

Your home support organisation will use your feedback to look work out how they can improve their systems and processes.