Aged care facilities Aged care facilities are not ideal for people under the age of 65, but have the benefit of being available in all parts of the country, and able to provide hospital-level care. Our survey found that overnight stays in an aged care facility was the least popular option of all those presented. People aged over 65 were more willing to receive respite in an aged care facility, compared with those aged under 65. Individualised Funding Respite Individualised funding enables a disabled person and/or family/whānau to decide how and when they receive home and community supports (HCSS) or respite, who provides the support and how much they’re paid. Of respondents to our survey, 193 people were using IF respite. Many noted that the benefits of this system included increased flexibility and the ability to choose their own carers. However, IF users and disability service providers also report that: disabled people are sometimes unable to use their full allocation of IF respite (usually because they are unable to find relief carers) the IF respite overnight rate of $150 is too low; it is a barrier to purchasing facility-based respite the Ministry requirement for IF users to account for their use of IF respite separately from their use of HCSS is onerous and overly bureaucratic. In terms of IF Respite feedback is great because people make their own – choices and are in charge of quality and effectiveness themselves. Feedback is universally about the low rate being insufficient and the hassle therefore of keeping the two budgets separate. Delivery and supports are not the issue. In-home support The Ministry of Health currently allocates approximately 1,924 people with disabilities funding for in-home or buddy support, at an hourly rate of approximately $25. People using this type of respite have reported problems with finding support workers or buddies, lack of consistency in the buddy who provides the service and lack of reliability and back-up when buddies are not available. We can’t find a that wants to work with my son because of our rural location.
Aged care facilities Aged care facilities are not ideal for people under the age of 65, but have the benefit of being available in all parts of the country, and able to provide hospital-level care. Our survey found that overnight stays in an aged care facility was the least popular option of all those presented. People aged over 65 were more willing to receive respite in an aged care facility, compared with those aged under 65. Individualised Funding Respite Individualised funding enables a disabled person and/or family/whānau to decide how and when they receive home and community supports (HCSS) or respite, who provides the support and how much they’re paid. Of respondents to our survey, 193 people were using IF respite. Many noted that the benefits of this system included increased flexibility and the ability to choose their own carers. However, IF users and disability service providers also report that: disabled people are sometimes unable to use their full allocation of IF respite (usually because they are unable to find relief carers) the IF respite overnight rate of $150 is too low; it is a barrier to purchasing facility-based respite the Ministry requirement for IF users to account for their use of IF respite separately from their use of HCSS is onerous and overly bureaucratic. In terms of IF Respite – feedback is great because people make their own choices and are in charge of quality and effectiveness themselves. Feedback is universally about the low rate being insufficient and the hassle therefore of keeping the two budgets separate. Delivery and supports are not the issue. In-home support The Ministry of Health currently allocates approximately 1,924 people with disabilities funding for in-home or buddy support, at an hourly rate of approximately $25. People using this type of respite have reported problems with finding support workers or buddies, lack of consistency in the buddy who provides the service and lack of reliability and back-up when buddies are not available. We can’t find a that wants to work with my son because of our rural location.
transforming-respite-dss-draft-respite-strategy-2017-2022-consultation-mar17-v2.docx