Hi all,
Following the sessions at OPAG and SIAG last week we asked that ACC provide a brief summary regarding the information they shared with the groups of ACC’s interpretation of the Public Health Acute Service (PHAS) agreement
ACC has now met with and confirmed Ministry of Health’s position which is outlined as below:
- Under this agreement all needs of the patient are covered by the DHB, including attendant care
- During acute hospital admissions, funded under the PHAS agreement, all care, including attendant care, is included. Therefore the Ministry of Health believes requests from DHB’s, for ACC to continue to fund attendant care during these periods of admission, to be a breach of the PHAS agreement.
- The Ministry of Health considers there are health and safety concerns if carers are working within the hospital environment: for example all staff and contractors would be required to undergo a security check, among other requirements
- ACC is unable to confirm the background of individual carers who are employed by clients. ACC does not employ carers
Any request that ACC does receive for funding of attendant care during hospital admissions will continue to be reviewed at National Consistency Panel to make sure there is consistency with decision making and that all case owners have a clear understanding of the intent of the PHAS agreement.
The Elective Services contract does not include provision for attendant care, therefore ACC is able to consider attendant care needs, on a individual basis, if the client has an existing package of care in the community.
We haven’t finished working with ACC on this Issue, and we hope to come back to you with a much better outcome very soon, because at this stage I believe it is still puts our members (us all) at risk, where we all have to individually push the DHB management to insure they put a care package around us while we are in hospital care. I will keep working to try and get a standard attendant care package protocol for everyone that is admitted to any hospital in NZ ,as I know many of our members are not the best at advocating for there own wellbeing, particularly when we are very unwell.
If you have any questions about the above information please contact voc@acc.co.nz
Regards Brendan Tourelle
VP TASC
