Home and Community Health Association

07/04/2026

03/04/2026

The right move: - Great to highlight with Newstalk ZB the 30% increase was appreciated and that a sustainable fuel solution and mechanism is so needed for our Home and Community Support workers.

Home care workers are getting the help to pay for fuel they've been asking for.

02/04/2026

Great to have this positive outcome before Easter.

We will hold an urgent update meeting today at 3:00 for our members!

Thank you Hon Nicola Willis MP, Minister Simeon Brown for this swift and meaningful action. A 30% increase in mileage rates for Home and Community Support Workers - effective today, just before Easter - is fantastic news for our sector and for the people who depend on these essential services! As th...

01/04/2026

Flexible funding changes started today and please see this link by Carers NZ with links to more information

Today marks day one of the return to flexible use of funding in disability. Please click to the DSS webpage to absorb the detail and what is and isn’t possible now to use disability funding. We’ll keep sharing updates as these come through. https://www.disabilitysupport.govt.nz/disabled-people/improvements-to-disability-support-services/flexible-funding

31/03/2026

Apologies for the longer post but this is such an important topic.

It is great to see Hon Nicola Willis MP and Hon Simeon Brown MP respond with urgency to the fuel cost crisis facing our kaiāwhina (care and support workers). This crisis has also highlighted something deeper: the structural underfunding of home and community care. Having to push for every penny and manage on thin margins that do not allow for any flex or buffer.

For four years, In Between Travel rates have been frozen.
With original settlement rates increased by only 27% vs IRD rates have gone up 62.5% in 10 years.
The standard travel distance; used as an average expectation for a visit back in 2016, has been based on:
Travel distance - 3.7 kilometers
Travel time - 8 minutes 30 seconds (includes walking time!) and not changed

Providers have flagged the increasing complex reality: managing staff rosters to try to match peoples choices (with most people wanting care at the same time slot - for example, morning is typically 7–9am cluster); trying to honour client choice with consistent workers; navigating the weather, illness, annual leave and the basic geography of a mobile workforce.

Obviously we need the fuel fix now. But this moment demands a bigger question: How do we fund home and community care so it's genuinely sustainable? So providers can offer flexibility with stable, quality work and consistent care? So our support workers, kaiāwhina, are truly supported, remunerated and feel valued by our leaders. And so providers can innovate and be prepared for managing impacts?

The truth is simple: staying healthy at home costs less and delivers better outcomes than waiting for acute crisis care. It stops the deluge and overload on Hospitals and yet we keep building a system driven by emergency rather than prevention. Others before me have explained this is a false economy but it persists.

Home and community care is the vital heartbeat of health, the steady unseen element that focuses on maintaining wellness for people with disabilities, supporting older people to remain at home and those facing injuries. It includes carers and those managing individual funding and deserves a holistic, interconnected view that reflects the reality of costs across systemic boundaries, not just patch fixes when crisis hits.

Thank you to the Ministers for stepping in urgently. Let's use this moment to reset and collaborate across the system and silos.
Casey Costello MP, Louise Upston MP, Scott Simpson MP Mark Patterson MP, Matt Doocey MP

Health Minister Simeon Brown says relief could be offered by boosting the existing mileage allowance which workers receive.

30/03/2026

Concerning redirection from Te Whatu Ora, how bad do things have to get to get authentic and respectful partnership rather than what appears to be blame?

As you are probably aware the fuel crisis is hitting home care workers and the vulnerable whānau they support in ways that are hard to overstate. And it's being too easily redirected away from government onto providers.

Surely the cost of fuel, especially during a fuel crisis, sits with the funder? Or are we missing something? Health New Zealand seems to be saying providers should wait until the next contract uplift to address it. Surely not.

Yet Health New Zealand's Martin Hefford told RNZ that care workers aren't HNZ employees. They're employed by contracted providers. So the burden of fuel costs falls to the providers, not the funder.

This is deeply concerning given the ongoing warnings of service impact. We hope we don't need a tragedy to make this clear that it matters. It is our whanau and people in our communities affected here, it could be your Mum or Dad, we need action not sidelining.

Hefford said HNZ's current funding arrangements already recognised cost pressures faced by providers and their workforces, including fuel costs.
"Health New Zealand is currently considering funding settings for 2026/27, including the impact of rising fuel prices on third party providers."

The Union has now filed legal action under the Wages Protection Act. Please read the Stuff and RNZ reporting, and share your thoughts in the comments.

Simeon Brown MP, Casey Costello MP, Louise Upston MP, Nicola Willis MP, Mark Patterson MP, Scott Simpson MP, Dr Ayesha Verrall, Marama Davidson MP, Christopher Luxon, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, MP,

Carers in remote areas say the price of petrol is so high they are losing money visiting their more remote clients.

29/03/2026

When support workers can't afford their fuel, vulnerable New Zealanders and their whanau pay the price.

Home and Community Health Association is calling on Nicola Willis MP to recognise and value the essential work that care and support workers and community health professionals do each day; work that strengthens our hospitals and primary care centres. Our open letter demands action.

Make no mistake this is a 'funding' issue with real, immediate health system consequences. That means it sits with our Finance Minister to respond to yet impacts Hon Simeon Brown, Hon Scott Simpson and Hon Louise Upston.

It hits our most vulnerable first: rural whānau, isolated elderly, people with disabilities. But the cost ripples outward to all of us; preventable hospital admissions, overwhelmed primary care, a collapsing workforce. We can avoid this outcome. We must act today.

✓ Fuel cost impacts increasing
✓ Travel reimbursement frozen since 2022
✓ Rural whānau losing access to care

As a society, we can't afford to ignore this. Sensible funding that protects home care is protecting our entire acute and urgent care system. That's not sentiment - it's plain economics!

Home care offers a stable foundation for health and wellbeing. Let's fund it accordingly. 💚

When support workers can't afford their fuel, vulnerable New Zealanders and their whanau pay the price.

24/03/2026

As detailed in yesterdays press release, New Zealand's health targets are ambitious and welcome. The government is clearly committed to delivering better outcomes for our communities, and we want to help our health Minister Hon Simeon Brown MP

Our home and community care sector stands ready. In the Home and Community Support Sector, we employ approx 26,000 healthcare professionals and support workers including family carers, embedded in communities across the country. We're in people's homes, building relationships, preventing crises. We can contribute meaningfully to these targets. We can liaise and deliver care to reduce pressure on GPs, and link to the amazing community groups and organisations that are the fabric of support for many.

But right now, fuel costs are creating an unexpected barrier.

Support workers are facing real financial pressure. And it's forcing difficult choices: Many workers are understandably feeling the pressure and refusing to visit rural and remote clients. The impacts are real and NOW.

Our most vulnerable are losing out because of this. This is a dangerous situation and one that deserves urgent attention.

We're not looking for a handout. We're looking for vital support to help keep the health system flowing by doing the essential work we do. Funding travel costs for our workforce isn't an add-on to health targets, it's fundamental to achieving them

Clear improvements are being delivered across all five Government health targets, with the quarterly results for October to December 2025 showing year‑on‑year gains and more Kiwis accessing care sooner.

19/03/2026

Delivering Home Based care depends on travel and our Kaiawhina (care and support workers) need support during this fuel crisis 🚗💙

Rising fuel costs are hitting our kaiawhina hard. Many work early mornings and late evenings in regional areas where public transport doesn't exist they have no choice but to drive.

The real impact? Some workers are avoiding rural visits because they can't afford to fill up. That means vulnerable people lose access to essential services.

The Home and Community Health Association (HCHA) is calling on government for targeted relief not broad fuel subsidies, but smart support for those who need it most:

- Fuel subsidies/rebates
- Tax credits for documented fuel expenses
- Direct payments to employers to offer to staff

Creating efficiencies with smart rostering and planning is already being done and there is only so much money that can be saved with smart mapping out of visits. Funding is needed urgently and working together with government is the only answer for service sustainability and people's safety and wellbeing.

Kaiawhina keep our communities running. It's time travel is funded effectively. 🤝

16/03/2026

Local understanding of health needs can create an environment that is more responsive, flexible, and empowering when done well. This can lead to improved health outcomes and happier people, a genuine win-win.

This announcement is welcomed and Minister Brown has taken a clear step forward. Hopefully, home care providers will be able to better respond to shifting community needs as part of this picture.

As Minister Brown states: "Regions and districts will have clearer authority over workforce, resources, and service delivery, while national leadership focuses on strategy, standards, and system planning."

The benefits of quality home-based care are well established. Most people prefer to remain in their own homes, within their own communities, for as long as possible. The evidence is clear: early intervention in familiar environments reduces hospital admissions and complications, costs significantly less than higher-level care options, and can respond quickly when needs change.

We could now have inclusive frameworks, and potential funding models to make this a reality?

From 1 July, decision-making within Health New Zealand will shift closer to patients, communities, and hospitals, ensuring decisions are made in the right place at the right time so Kiwis get better access to ca

12/03/2026

"Great to speak with Minister Simeon Brown MP and see his passion for holistic care and prevention for those with Rare Disorders NZ". Lisa Foster HCHA CEO attended the launch of the Impact of Living with a Rare Disorder in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2025 white paper at Parliament on Wednesday night. Read her comments below:
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Fantastic to witness the progress and feel the momentum for Rare Disorders at their parliamentary event on Wednesday night. I feel proud of my part in the journey and it was heart-warming to see the amazing advocates, staff, researchers, clinicians and supporters.

At this time, the opportunities are immense to reduce the stress of a diagnosis, the access to life changing medicines and the hope that all people deserve. Forward thinking and putting money into prevention and care saves so much for so many. The Minister of Health Simeon Brown MP and Hon David Seymour and MP Todd Stephenson MP are capable of the long term and bold action that is needed and that's uplifting!

10/03/2026

For those working in or alongside home-based care, this one matters. The ability for people to age well at home depends on our members, who provide a quality, capable workforce or supportive services and care; there when people need it most. We hope the upcoming Ministerial Advisory Group report offers clear recommendations that recognise and strengthen that. 🙏

Ageing well is everyone's issue. Yet our systems weren't built that way. Despite decades of aspiration, the 'person at the centre' model has never fully translated into practice. Fragmented services, fiscal focus on urgent hospital care rather than a balance of keeping people well in their communities, and siloed thinking have too often gotten in the way.

The Health Committee Inquiry and Ministerial Advisory Group on aged care are meaningful steps in the right direction, focused on real access, real choice, and keeping people well wherever they call home.

The ingredients for better are already in place. Learnings from prior reports (and there have been many), insights from current challenges, and the wisdom of holistic Kaupapa Māori models all have something vital to offer. We don't need to start from scratch; we need the courage and coordination to act. If we can break the silos and work with authentic aims of wellbeing.

Because behind every policy gap is a person, and a family, navigating it alone.

This is the kind of solution-focused, joined-up thinking we urgently need!🫰

The Government has welcomed the Health Committee’s report following its inquiry into aged care support services for people experiencing neurological cognitive disorders.