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Environmental Support Services Development Programme

Equipment and Modification Services’ Improvement Programme
A key focus of recent work has been on developing options from the Preliminary Report on Prioritisation of Equipment and Modification Services (EMS). This work has been affected by increasing pressures on the Equipment and Modification Services’ budget. The demand for equipment and modifications is continuing to exceed the available budget. As recommendations for changes to current priorities within the EMS Improvement Programme are not expected until November, we are looking at short term measures to manage this budget demand.

Assessor Accreditation – The pilot project in the 4 DHB’s is continuing, with oversight and support from the Project Manager working in the accreditation workstream of the EMS Improvement Programme. This pilot has been set up to look at whether assessor accreditation can be extended to other allied health professional or therapy assistants. This would streamline access to basic equipment items for disabled people, which usually need an assessment with an Occupational Therapist. The pilot will be evaluated in October and will guide recommendations for wider changes to the assessor accreditation framework.

Contact: Sue Primrose

Review of the Equipment and Therapy Protocols

A revised draft framework including a Memorandum of Understanding and Operational Guideline (including Local Area Agreements) is now complete. The Ministries of Health and Education have identified what outstanding issues or sections within the framework require further work before being finalised.

Alongside, a draft Implementation Plan has been developed describing in detail how the framework could be successfully implemented in the sector including estimated costs for delivery. A project is underway to establish what is needed for Speech Language Therapy (SLT) to be included in the framework at some stage in the near future. This involved sending out a questionnaire to all registered SLTs to confirm and/or identify issues related to the interface between SLT in Education and Health.

Contacts: Sue Primrose and Karen Hunter

The Ministry of Health’s Disability Services and Health of Older People teams have worked together to establish a programme of work until 30 June 2008 to improve the provision of Ministry of Health funded Environmental Support Services (ESS). The programme of work is based on the findings and recommendations from the ESS Review, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and completed by Disability Resource Centre Auckland. The findings and recommendations from this review are outlined in a summary report entitled: Environmental Support Services Review and Framework Plan: Summary Report.

Equipment and Modification Services’ Improvement Programme - Information for Specialised Assessors (Word, 53 KB)

Progress Reports

Page last updated: 20 August 2009