Family care policy details released to public

Details for family carers policy released

The Funded Family Care Notice 2013, which details how the Government’s $92 million policy of paying family carers will be implemented, has been issued by the Minister and published in the New Zealand Gazette.

Health Minister Tony Ryall says the Notice sets out the terms and conditions on which eligible adult disabled people are allocated Ministry of Health funding to employ certain family carers for the delivery of personal care and household management services.

“The Notice clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of the disabled person, the family member providing care, Needs Assessment and Service Coordination (NASC) organisations and the Ministry of Health,” says Mr Ryall.

“The Ministry has worked with representatives of the disability and carers’ community to develop the Notice.

“Section 88 documents are usually long and complex. This Notice is the first in New Zealand to be written in plain English to ensure it is readable and understandable for disabled people and their family carers.

“If disabled people would like a family member to be their paid carer, they should read the Notice and accompanying operational policy on the Ministry website, and then contact their local NASC to be assessed.

“As the funding will enable around 1600 disabled adults to pay family carers, it will take NASC organisations some weeks to complete the assessments and eligible family members to start to receive payments.

The funded family carer policy comes into effect on the 1 October.

The Government will invest $92 million over the next four years to pay for this support package at an estimated cost of $23 million a year.