Issue 17-Newsletters-News and Publications-Disability

Disability in New Zealand
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Disability Services Newsletter - Issue 17 - October 2006

Issue 17 - October 2006
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In this issue:

Draft Evidence-based Guideline for Autism Spectrum Disorder

For the first time in New Zealand, an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Guideline is providing evidence-based information for health, disability and education professionals as well as social service agencies for the provision of services for people with ASD, their families and whanau.

The ASD Guideline is a groundbreaking example of health, education and disability service leaders working together for the benefit of people with ASD.

The ASD Guideline will cover identification, diagnosis, ongoing assessment, interventions and services for both children and adults with ASD. It seeks to provide the best evidence currently available to help ensure decision-making that will improve health, educational and social outcomes.

The development of the draft ASD Guideline has taken a ‘whole of life’ approach and has been developed through intersectoral collaboration. It is intended for use by primary health care practitioners, education professionals, policy makers, funders, parents, carers, specialists and any others who provide services for people with ASD.

The development of this ASD Guideline has been jointly sponsored by the Ministries of Education and Health.

Consultation process

To finalise the ASD Guideline the Ministries of Health and Education are preparing to give the sector the opportunity to contribute to the document.

A two-month written public consultation process is planned to gain sector feedback across the health, disability, education and social service sectors (October to December 2006). At the same time an expert peer review process will be undertaken with international experts in ASD.

The purpose of the consultation will be to ensure that the final ASD Guideline covers all the relevant areas, and that all the recommendations are supported by robust evidence.

Once consultation starts you will be able to access a copy of the draft ASD Guideline and the submission booklet by emailing Susan Fernandes at the Ministry of Health susan_ fernandes@moh.govt.nz or by leaving your contact details on an 0800 number that will be set up. Copies will also be available on the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education websites.

For more information on the draft ASD Guideline and the consultation process you can look online at www.moh.govt.nz/disability or you can email susan_ fernandes@moh.govt.nz .

Geraldine’s update
Geraldine Woods
Deputy Director-General, Disability Services Directorate

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

We receive information about the services we fund and the people who use these services from a number of sources. This information helps us to manage current service provision, identify gaps in services and allows us to plan for the future. In order to ensure that we receive reliable, timely, useful information we have initiated an information project with our contracted Needs Assessment Service Co-ordination (NASC) services. This project – Socrates – is a new era in data collection for us and will vastly improve the information we currently have, allow us to analyse trends and usage and will benefit NASCs and service users as well as the Directorate.

Auckland Pacific Disability Awareness Campaign

A successful radio campaign to raise awareness of disability issues among Pacific communities in Auckland has recently been completed.

Advertisements and interviews aired on Radio 531pi on the Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island, Niuean and Tuvaluan language programmes from November 2005 to June 2006.

Moto’otua Limited, a small Pacific public health provider with experience and networks in the Pacific disability sector, managed the campaign. They were supported in the production and delivery of the campaign by the Auckland-based PIASS Trust, currently the only Pacific Disability Information and Advisory Service (DIAS) provider in the country.

As a result of this campaign, 9,150 enquiries were received by the PIASS Trust. The majority of enquiries were from the Cook Islands community (3,322), followed by the Tongan (2,750) and Samoan (1,072) communities. Most queries related to physical and age-related disabilities.

Introducing New Staff

Patrick Labotsky
Executive Assistant
(DSD Southern Operations)

I joined the DSD Southern Operations Team on 4 July 2006 as the Executive Assistant. I emigrated from South Africa with my wife and two children, a daughter aged 14 and a son aged 11. Before moving to New Zealand I had spent the last 13 years working for the Gauteng Health Department in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was the Office Manager/PA for the Acting Head of Department. Throughout my career I have gained a wide range of expertise within a number of different areas of the South African health services. I have experience in a variety of health issues and especially with the provision of health services at hospital and clinic levels.
My qualifications include a BA in Psychology, a Diploma in Theology and a partly concluded MBA (Health Care). My outside interests include spending time with my family, playing drums, singing and going camping.

Estelle Muller
Contract Analyst
Northern Operations Team

My role as a contracts analyst focuses on supporting the operations team to improve the way we work with disability providers and other key stakeholders. This role covers the Northern area and is based in the Auckland Office. Born in Samoa, I emigrated to New Zealand to complete tertiary studies resulting in a Masters in Economics at Auckland University. My work experience covers a range of analytical and management roles developing Pacific health capacity in the sector through the Health Funding Authority, Health Research Council and Waitemata DHB. In Waitemata DHB I was responsible to lead the regional portfolio for oral health. I have also been privileged to experience leading a primary health NGO provider in an executive role, greatly supported by a community elected governance board. In my spare time I support the arts community particularly contemporary fashion and design exhibitions including architecture.

Mark Johanssan
Contract Relationship Manager
Northern Operations Team

In October 2005 I joined the Ministry as Acting Senior Advisor IDCC&R, a fixed term contract, that gave me the privilege of a national perspective and a network of new relationships. This role was a progression from my position as Service Manager with a high and complex sector non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Auckland, and from my statutory appointment as a Compulsory Care Coordinator under the Act as well. In April 2006 I was successful in obtaining the position of Contract Relationship Manager with the Northern Operations Team of the Disability Services Directorate. This role has provided me with many challenges and a high degree of new learning, throughout which the team has positively supported me. My background includes 18 years’ work experience in the Auckland and Northland disability sector, predominantly within intellectual disability, in a variety of specialised and management roles with different NGOs. This includes a few years of working in mental health services. I studied psychology and economics at Auckland University and completed a Diploma in Care Co-ordination and Management through the College of Education. Some of my interests include art, architecture, travel and antiquities.

Attitude TV

ACC wants to make sure people with disabilities and their carers know that ACC is here to support them if they have an injury. During October and November it is collaborating with RSVP Productions on five segments on the Attitude TV programme. Attitude is a great 30-minute TV series presented by people with disabilities for people with disabilities. Their carers, family, whanau and people who work in the disability area are regular viewers. The programme screens on TV One at 9.30 am on Sundays, and offers fresh insights and information as well as practical items covering a range of everyday issues that impact on quality of life and aspirations. A cross-section of people with a range of disabilities who have had an accident will be profiled. The programmes will show how they deal with their injury and how they
have been supported by ACC.

National Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination (NASC) Information System

The development of a national NASC information system, project Socrates, is well under way.

Agreement has been reached on what data will be contained in the system and how it will be recorded. The Health Information Standards Organisation (HISO) has confirmed that the data specification complies with the latest health and disability sector data standards. The high level functional and non-functional requirements for Socrates, known as the ‘detailed user requirements’, have been completed and feedback is being collated and analysed. These requirements form a major part of the system requirements, technical design, and test planning efforts.

All Disability Services Directorate (DSD) funded NASCs and a number of Directorate staff attended a workshop in Wellington on 13 and 14 September 2006. The first day was spent discussing the user requirements and learning more about the project. The second day focused on planning for the changes that will arise from implementing the project. One result of the workshop is that all NASCs and DSD now agree on a generic business workflow for NASCs, including Regional Intellectual Disability Care Agency (RIDCA) NASCs. This is a significant project milestone which allows Socrates to incorporate an automated workflow for NASCs.

Feedback on the detailed user requirements was requested by 21 September 2006. This allowed the Stakeholder Advisory Group to consider that feedback at its meeting on 25 September. Final signoff on the user requirements can then be achieved in October to keep the project on schedule. Attendees at the Wellington workshop were very supportive of the project and were keen to press on and see Socrates implemented.

Participants at the workshop in Wellington on 13 September.

Document Availability

This publication is available on this website in PDF format below.
Disability Services Newsletters: Issue 17 - October 2006 (PDF, 246 KB)

This publication has been converted to Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). Here is a link to information on downloading and viewing PDFs.

Ministry of Health publications

Unless otherwise specified, you can obtain copies of all Ministry of Health publications from:

Ministry of Health
C/o Wickliffe Limited
PO Box 932
DUNEDIN
Tel: (04) 496 2277 (Wellington)
Fax: (03) 479 0979 (Dunedin)
Email: moh@wickliffe.co.nz
Ministry of Health publications are also available on our website: www.moh.govt.nz

Your Comments Welcomed

If you would like to make any comments on this newsletter or would like any further information, please contact us on (04) 4962001 or disability@moh.govt.nz

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