Home and Community Health Association

17/06/2026

It’s great to see this investment in Aged Care Residential Supports and we welcome the announcement. Having weekend admissions for rest home care is vital to support discharge from hospital.

Reducing the pressure on primary and tertiary health systems is a smart move.

We need effective investment & sustainable support for all parts of the health eco-system. Our older people deserve that.

We now positively anticipate the recommendations from the Ministerial Advisory Group.

The Government's announcement of increased funding for aged residential care is an important step in recognising the sector's role in supporting New Zealand's health system and older people.

ACA Chief Executive Tracey Martin joined RNZ Morning Report this morning to discuss what the funding means for providers, the opportunities it creates to ease pressure on hospitals, and why longer-term reform is still needed to meet future demand.

Listen to the interview here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019039558/aged-care-association-responds-to-new-funding-announcement

16/06/2026

As we race toward a digital revolution in healthcare, let's be careful not to leave anyone behind.

Most of us have been there at some point, caught in that loop of doom between a broken password and the desperate wait for a real human being to step in and sort it out. It is genuinely stressful, and for many older New Zealanders it is not just an occasional frustration but a daily reality.

This research from the University of Auckland explores exactly that. Over 40% of people aged 60 and over in Aotearoa are experiencing barriers to accessing online government services, and confidence with digital tools decreases with each decade of life. The researchers describe this as "technostress" and frame digital inclusion as a social determinant of health in its own right. That is a significant finding.

The principle we apply in the disability space feels just as relevant here: nothing about us, without us or a more aligned improvement by Pip Patston of 'Everything about us with us'.

If we are serious about digital transformation, then the tāngata who will be most affected by it need to be part of shaping it from the start, not consulted after the fact when things are not working.

We all benefit when technology is designed with inclusion in mind from day one. Let's ask for that, and keep asking, rather than waiting to retrofit when our most vulnerable are left behind.

This qualitative interview study explored older people’s experiences and perceptions around mental wellbeing and using digital technology in later life, and the...

15/06/2026

Elder abuse can often be subtle yet devastating- being able to get support from caring staff who may visit or via the updated elder response telephone or email line is vital.

14/06/2026

Having responsive assessment for homecare is a vital part of a preventative, cost effective health system. Not just for one part of the system like residential care but the whole continuum. Choice and timing matter.

Timing is everything and Homecare is often the first response to a change in health for older people.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Benjamin Franklin said it, and it has never been more true than in health.
As detailed in this post looking at assessment for residential care, when people face a health need and have to wait for assessments, the consequences go far beyond frustration. Delayed access means hospital admissions, accelerated decline, and lost independence. The cost, human and financial, is far greater than timely intervention would ever be.

Homecare is the top of the cliff. It is the wraparound support that keeps people well, connected, and living in their own homes for as long as they choose to. That is what most people want, and it is what our system must be built to offer.

Responsive assessment and well-resourced homecare packages are not a luxury; they are prevention in action. We need to treat them that way.

MEDIA RELEASE: Assessment Bottlenecks Are Delaying Care and There Is a Solution The Aged Care Association (ACA) is calling for urgent action to address growing delays in access to dementia and aged care assessments, warning that older New Zealanders and their families are being left without safe opt...

04/06/2026

Budget Day always offers such hope and excitement and the public are right to state their agreement that health deserves to be the biggest winner 🏆
Hospitals infrastructure needs funding and everyone agrees with that, yet there appears to be a distinct lack of planning & dedicated funding for preventative primary and community based care - that doesn't make fiscal sense (for primary care every $1 gives $13 return).

Frustratingly digging into the details and looking further under the hood can be a bit of a downer. This report by Professor Paula Lorgelly helps to shine a light on the oil leaks.

As with most things materials, equipment and costs increase over time and the rising cost of healthcare delivery is moving at the pace of a Tsunami so the record investment in health appears in reality to only manage to meet Baseline Funding, to keep the lights on. An inconvenient truth indeed and it seems that if the projected funding was provided to meet the real need it would have to increase by $1.4billion.

So as the report points out the next government should focus funding where it delivers the greatest benefits, upstream in preventive interventions and primary healthcare or it will lead to a loop of doom.

Budget 2026 increases health spending but falls short of what is needed to address years of underfunding, with insufficient investment in prevention and primary care to improve access, equity and long-term health system performance.

04/06/2026

A Reflection from HCHA CEO Lisa Foster:

This substack piece by Dr Jane George really resonated with me. This names the fact that the system is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Built to compete to separate out into funding pools and limit.

We talk collaboration and fund competition.

We aspire to integrated, whānau-centred care, closer to home, and then wonder why it feels so hard to achieve. Jane's insight is that this friction isn't personal or inevitable; it's architectural. And once you can see the architecture, you can choose to act differently within it.

I believe many organisations are already doing exactly that. Rural providers of home and community health, alongside their kaiāwhina workforce, bring this grounded philosophy to life every single day, choosing cohesion in a system that rewards competition.

Most of us want care that is practical, responsive and funded effectively to keep us well at home so we can remain in our own space with our loved ones. This should not be in conflict with hospital level care needs that will only ever increase, but a sensible cost effective measure for happier, stronger, and productive community. That surely leads to growth in an integrated model that removes the silos?

So what would it mean to design for intergenerational wellbeing and genuine collaboration from the ground up? To build the architecture around hauora rather than around the budget line?
It's as old a question as it is urgent.

Budget day in Aotearoa is theatre. And as the curtain is raised, it reveals a lot.

28/05/2026

Great to be prudent in uncertain times yet are health cost savings now going to cost us all dearly later?

That’s the question we need the public to ask any Government to ponder and to make sure that we learn from our cousins across the Tasmin not replicate their mistakes. The post below shows dire 1 yr + waiting lists for home care and workforce crisis!

With a New Zealand budget appearing to focus on building more hospitals - where is the focus on prevention, on care closer to home with Home and Community support sector aligned with primary care partnerships- that’s the fiscal common sense pathway but when will we take it?

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1NiZBtGtAD/

26/05/2026

A time for more transparency of the financial value for the Home and Community Health sector and its role as the heartbeat of health. Keeping whanau well closer to home offers more than just cost savings it makes peoples lives more colourful and offers whanau choice to remain in their own communities.

With Budget Day almost upon us, today's news of a $400 million health underspend, largely attributed to lower than forecast payments for community and residential support services, is worth pausing on.

Interesting timing. Interesting category.

The confusion about where exactly this underspend occurred reflects something we have long been calling out: we lack the budget transparency needed to properly analyse what we are spending on home care versus hospital or residential care, and crucially, what we are getting for it.
Because when we do have the numbers, they are impossible to ignore. Health NZ's own Sapere data shows that basic home and community support costs around $7,400 per person per year. A subsidised rest home place cost $65,000 at the same point in time. Nearly nine times more. With room for innovation and the right funding settings, expanding home care and investing in prevention and integrated care models is a clear winner. Whether that opportunity is taken, or whether the focus narrows to short term cost savings, is one of the more important questions sitting behind this Budget.

The international picture reinforces it. In the United States, supporting someone at home costs USD $70,000 per year (around NZD $118,000). In a state institution, that rises to more than USD $395,000 (around NZD $667,000), a fivefold difference. And for every dollar invested in home and community-based care, the broader economy returned $2.50.
Underfunding this model does not reduce costs. It shifts them, to emergency departments, rest homes, and family members who leave the workforce to fill the gaps. The savings are illusory. The harm is real.
Our kaiāwhina (community health assistants) workforce and family carers make this model work. It is, quite simply, a sound investment.

If we are ageing in place here in Aotearoa, and most of hopefully will be; this is one worth caring about.

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25/05/2026

On 21 May our CEO attended Rural Fest 2026 as a new member of Hauora Taiwhenua, and it was a day that reinforced the need for visibility and value for the care our kaiāwhina provide in rural and remote communities. Lisa attended carrying the voices of our members, with key messages shaped by their experiences on the ground: that kaupapa Māori home and community support is relational, not transactional, and that the trust kaiāwhina build in isolated communities is an equity intervention in itself that cannot be measured in activity volumes alone. Whānau trust is not incidental to these services. It is the service. Rural Aotearoa represents the second largest city in the country, and home and community support sits at its heart. Lisa will be sharing more detail with HCHA members, along with the advocacy priorities that emerged from the day.

Kia ora koutou. I'm Lisa Foster, Chief Executive of the Home and Community Health Association (HCHA), the peak body and national voice for home and community health and support providers across Aotearoa. HCHA represents varied organisations that enable people to live at home and within their communities: kaumātua, tāngata whaikaha, people recovering from acute illness, and those managing long-term conditions, often in rural areas.

I'm thrilled to join Hauora Taiwhenua because rural care is strongest when we are focused on the needs of our communities, with GP practice, homecare providers, community health professionals and the kaiāwhina workforce working in alignment. That connection is at the heart of what I hope to explore here. Where this alignment already exists in rural locations, the outcomes are noticeably better for it.

With the Rural Health Strategy setting a clear direction toward integrated, preventative care closer to home, the home and community health sector is a natural part of that picture. These priorities resonate deeply with home and community providers, and advocating together for their realisation makes every kind of sense. The effects of getting this right ripple outward: healthier whānau, more empowered communities, and reduced pressure on acute and residential services. Those benefits are not always easy to measure, but they are profound and they are real.

The rural dimension of home and community health remains genuinely underserved in national policy conversations, and that is the other reason I am so glad to be part of Hauora Taiwhenua. Too often, policy for our sector is shaped around urban service patterns, leaving rural and remote communities to absorb the consequences, with compounding factors of workforce shortages, inequitable funding, and the quiet weight of geographical distance from decision-making. These are the challenges we share, and they sit squarely at the intersection of what HCHA advocates for and what this network truly understands. I'm here to learn, to connect, and where I can, to contribute.

Learn more about Lisa here: https://zurl.co/xrj4F

24/05/2026

There is a short time for submissions on impactful changes for disability so please spread the word.

Submissions are open for the Disability Support Services Bill, announced last week by the Government. If you are a disabled person, a family carer, or a watchful citizen of New Zealand, we encourage you to read the Bill (there is an Easy Read version on the submissions page) and make a submission. There are only 19 more days to make a submission - an absurdly short amount of time for such an important Bill. We will be releasing information along the way. Shame on the New Zealand National Party, the NZ First Party, and the ACT Party for this cynical surprise legislation so close to a general election. And the very very short submissions timeframe which makes it difficult for the most stressed and vulnerable people to participate in what should be a fair democratic process. However, we have no option but to participate in the submissions process as best we can. Have a look. https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCSSC_SCF_E6D8596D-C177-486B-CCF2-08DEB47E5457/disability-support-services-bill