Monthly update, August 2018 Posted by Posted by Loren Savage on 5 September 2018 Posted on: 5 September 2018

Kia ora koutou,

Over the last month the System Transformation team has been focusing on opening the Disabled People and Whānau capability fund in MidCentral, beginning the baseline data gathering in MidCentral, recruiting for more Kaitūhono or Connectors, preparing for induction for the two teams, seeking information from providers about their offerings, developing the website, developing and testing business processes and on Cabinet papers about funding allocation, tax and regulatory issues.

So it’s been really exciting that the disabled people and whānau capability fund is now open and really encourage people to think about what are the sorts of skills that they want to build and to start applying for grants. It is open to groups of disabled people and/or a group of families with disabled family members. The fund is for those groups to build these skills or capability in a particular thing. What you plan need to benefit a group of individuals of disabled people or whānau and the need to be living in MidCentral. So some examples of the sorts of things that might be funded:

- A group of families coming together for wananga to share ideas and plan for their disabled young people can do in the future or;

- A project to develop marae based supports for disabled whānau, hapu and iwi members.

You can find a lot more information about what the fund is for and how you can apply on the Enabling Good Lives website under MidCentral updates.

The baseline study has now begun, which will involve interviews with 165 disabled people and whānau members over the next month or so. People have been selected at random from everyone in MidCentral who’s currently accessing disability support. The purpose of the baseline study is for us to understand how people are experiencing the system at the moment and what impact this experience is having on their lives. Their information will be used to inform the development of the prototype over time and help us to measure what difference we have made by transforming the system because we’ll be able to go back and look at what is the experience in eighteen months’ time comparing to the experience that was before. We will also be surveying providers, so service organizations and support workers to understand their experience and what information they need to prepare for System Transformation. All of the information is confidential so anybody who was involved in the baseline study none of your information will be identifiable to you and once we’ve completed the study, it will be available on the website and in Easy Read for people.

So we had recruited a number of Kaitūhono and Connectors and we have gone out to get a few more. Now we’ve got a full complement. Getting the right people for the two teams, the critical part of being able to deliver on the transformed disability support system, so disabled people and families have more flexible options and greater decision-making over their support and lives. We’ve now interviewed for all roles, most people are starting on the 27^th of August with a few people starting slightly later. To be ready for that we’ve been busy preparing and planning a full induction program for the two teams. So that starts from end of August and goes right up to the 1^st of October but there will be more training and development for people after the 1^st of October and on an ongoing basis to make sure that people have the right skills and capabilities to be able to deliver on the transformed system.
We’ve just gone out to ask providers to provide information about what are the offerings, the supports that they can provide to disabled people and whānau in the new system. This information will be posted on the website and will be part of the information available to disabled people and whānau when they’re thinking about what they are wanting to achieve in their lives and what support they need to get there. We are continuing to develop business processes and we’ll be testing these with disabled people and whānau over the next couple of weeks.

A lot of work is underway with developing the website and getting content ready so that people have the information they need on the 1^st of October.

Finally Cabinet has now considered two papers. One was the funding allocation process and the other one on regulatory issues about tax and eligibility to other government assistance and that information will be available after we have finished translating it into different formats. That will be available before the 1^st of October. We’re also currently working with Ministers on what funding from other government agencies will transfer into the disability support system and we’re expecting to take that to Cabinet in the next four weeks.

Thank you. 

Note: If you are a provider and would like to information on the new website. Please email info@manawhaikaha.co.nz