Feedback from the Ministry of Health’s
Consumer Consortium – April 2011 Meeting

Late last year I was pleased when Harvey notified me that I had been selected to represent the Society’s consumers on the Disability Services Consumer Consortium.   In April I attended myself first Consortium meeting which is held in Wellington over three days.   The time span sounded a little daunting, although I’ve attended plenty of conferences, so knew I could handle it.  I was pleasantly surprised with how well-run the meeting was and the variety of topics kept things interesting, so time moved swiftly by.

The Consumer Consortium was “born” around five years ago out of feedback from the Consumer Forums held around the country by the Ministry of Health (MoH) which sought input from the users of disability support services and their families.  The Consortium membership is “pan-disability” covering all types of disability except mental health which has its own consumer group.  There are around 25 people representing 18 organisations. The CP Society has a parent rep, currently Harvey Brunt, as well as a consumer rep.

One of the first topics discussed this time was a draft questionnaire by Disability Support Services on Emergency Preparedness.  The Christchurch earthquakes has certainly been a wake-up call for the entire country in terms of how well prepared (or otherwise) we are for emergency situations.  The questionnaire covers topics such as if a person has an emergency plan, survival kit, support network, special equipment, etc.  It also asks if the person with a disability would be agreeable to be put on a “register” that would identify them as having “special needs” in an emergency. 

Having lived through two major earthquakes (and zillions of smaller ones) in the past six months or so, I did have to make the point that regardless of what plans and policies are in place, initially it’s every person for themselves in the first few hours as power is out, telephones may not work and travelling on roads is either difficult or impossible.  In Christchurch, agencies that provide support for people with disabilities were hit just as hard as everyone else and had no access to their databases or other records for a considerable time.

The MoH is in the process of creating a new website which it is hoped will be more user-friendly and accessible for people with disabilities and other users.  You can check it out on www.health.govt.nz .

An interesting session was held with staff from the Ministry’s Quality and Audit section, looking at improving the auditing and standards of residential services.  There is a move towards evaluating “quality of life” of residents rather than just the “minimum standards of compliance for auditing purposes”.   Harvey and I pointed out that “quality of life” can be quite subjective, and may even vary between the resident and their family.

For example, A young person may deem quality of life as having a staff member to assist them going to bed at 2am after an evening out, while their mother might be more concerned about the quality of the young person’s meals or if they have a daily shower! 

Even so, it was good to see that residents and their families were being consulted as being given “a key role in the monitoring process” of their residential facilities.   As well as regular planned auditing, spot checks can be carried out if an issue of concern is raised with the Ministry

By Allison Franklin