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Consumer Consortium

On this page:

• Updates
• Background
• Membership

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Updates

The final consortium for 2009 was held in Wellington in early November. The Members worked with the Ministry representatives to advise on service development including workforce and the consumer training and leadership options, criteria setting within the equipment & modification services improvement programme, community residential support services & home agreements, individualised funding, respite & carer support, local area co-ordination, and improving the health of people with an intellectual disability.

The following new members were welcomed to the Consortium:

1. Morgan Smith – People First
2. Jill Waldron – Muscular Dystrophy Association
3. John Greally – Autism NZ
4. Christine Morrison – IHC Advocacy
5. Patrick Thompson – Mana Turi o Aotearoa

The Consortium farewelled the following members and acknowledged their huge contribution over the last two to four years.

1. Kevin Anderson – Brain Injury Association
2. Patricia Anderson – IHC Advocacy
3. Rainus Baker – People First
4. Jennifer Birch – Autism NZ
5. Jan Moss – Carers NZ
6. Kim Robinson – Deaf Aotearoa NZ
7. Gillian Smailes – Hearing Association
8. Hilary Stace – Autism NZ
9. Anne Wilkinson – Parent to Parent
10. Graeme Parish – People First

The next consortium will be held in March 2010.

Contact: Alison Hearn, Tel: 04 816 3654

Background

Disability Support Services want to involve disabled people in making decisions about Ministry of Health funded disability support services. The national consumer forums held in 2004 and 2005 suggested that Disability Support Services forms a group of consumers to provide advice and input into their work. This group is the Disability Support Services Consumer Consortium. The consortium provides input and advice to Disability Support Services on its planning, policy and service development. The consortium provides a link for support and communication between Disability Support Services and the people who receive the services funded by Disability Support Services. Advice may be provided about:

• Disability Services’ Strategic and Annual Plans
• The agenda and facilitation of the annual national consumer forums
• Strategy development
• Policy development
• The equitable distribution of funding, and the use of any extra funding
• Any possible redistribution of funding
• Prioritising issues.

The consortium also provides a link between disability consumers and Disability Services by:

• Telling Disability Services about any issues
• Providing advice on priorities
• Providing input into policy development
• Collecting and providing information on needs and service gaps
• Ensuring maximum input into annual consumer forums from a wide audience
• Striving to improve collaboration of information between consumer organizations.
• Considering ways to involve input from people with disabilities and their families across the spectrum and external to the mainstream disability consumer organisations, for example, rural people or those in residential services.

The consortium members will not be:

• a lobby group for any one NGO
• representatives of provider organisations.

Advice and information provided by the Consortium is not binding on Disability Services and is mainly expressed informally. However, formal recommendations may be made which Disability Services will respond to.

Membership

Disabled people and/or their family or whanau make up the consortium. Members are from agreed national disability organisations with:

1. national membership, largely consisting of consumers of Ministry of Health funded disability support services, AND
2. a mandate to provide information and advice to consumers of Ministry of Health funded disability support services

Consumer Consortium members are chosen by the following organisations. The consortium is currently seeking to involve other organisations that represent disabled people who receive Ministry of Health funded disability support services.

Consumer Consortium Member Organisations	Membership
Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind	One person with a disability
NZ Association of Blind Citizens	One person with a disability
The Hearing Association	One person with a disability
Autism NZ	One person with a disability and a family member
Ngati Kapo NZ	One person with a disability
People First NZ	Two people with disabilities, at least one to be Maori
Deaf Aotearoa NZ	Two people with a disability
NZ Federation of Deaf Children	One family member
Brain Injury Association	Two people, one with an acquired brain injury and one family member
Parent to Parent NZ	Two family members
Carers NZ	One family member
IHC Advocacy	One family member
CCS Disability Action	One person with a disability and a family member
Cerebral Palsy Society	One person with a disability and a family member
PIASS Trust	One person with a disability and a family member
DPA NZ	Two people with a disability
Rescare NZ	One family member
Deaf Blind Association	One person with a disability
Huntingtons Association	One person with a disability and a family member
Down Association	One person with a disability and a family member

Page last updated: 16 December 2009