The Dementia Mate Wareware Network   

Te Tūhononga mō te Mate Wareware

 
The government has endorsed the New Zealand Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan (the Action Plan).
Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand wants to involve people living with dementia mate wareware and the dementia mate wareware sector when deciding how to get the action plan done.
To ensure this happens, we have set up a new group called the Dementia Mate Wareware Network / Te Tūhononga mō te Mate Wareware.
 
The Network will ensure that individuals and groups working with people living with dementia mate wareware and people living with dementia mate wareware themselves and their whānau will be heard when the Government makes decisions about the future of dementia care and support.
How to Join

We invite you to get involved in the Network. Click the button below to subscribe to the Dementia Mate Wareware Network mailing list and receive news, updates on our work, and invitations to network events.

All experiences of dementia mate wareware in Aotearoa New Zealand must be included in the Network. We welcome, for example, people living with dementia mate wareware; their care partners, family and whānau; the primary care workforce, community groups, home support providers; residential care, health professionals, secondary care and specialist services; educators, researchers, and policymakers. 

As part of the Network, you will work with others to provide the views and opinions of people connected to dementia mate wareware in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Network meets online every six weeks for discussion huis and information-sharing webinars. 

Join the Network email list.

2025 Meeting Dates

We meet online every 6 weeks. You are warmly invited to these 'all hands meetings'. Whatever your connection to dementia mate wareware, you are welcome. The following are our 2025 meeting dates:

  • Thursday 20 March
  • Thursday 1 May
  • Thursday 12 June
  • Thursday 24 July
  • Thursday 4 September
  • Thursday 16 October

Our mahi / work 

Network Consultations and Webinars
Throughout 2023 and 2024, the Network hui held every six weeks saw hundreds of people come together to discuss what they wanted to see in the future of dementia mate wareware care in Aotearoa New Zealand. From these hui, the Network produced the essential advice that the Leadership and Advisory Group used to submit to the government. These hui were recorded and you can watch them at the link below.
 
Consultations and Submissions
 
Interspersed throughout this consultative hui were educational webinars covering a wide range of topics for those whose lives involve people living with dementia mate wareware. These webinars involved leading experts from Aotearoa New Zealand sharing their expertise and research via presentations and question-and-answer sessions. The feedback from these hui has been overwhelmingly positive, and we will continue to provide new sessions about other essential topics in our 2025 Network hui. You can watch and share these sessions with others by following the link below.
 
Webinars
Planning the Dementia Mate Wareware Workforce: A Submission to the 2024 - 2027 Workforce Plan

This submission to Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand's Health Workforce Plan 2024-2027 draws on: Leadership Group discussions, existing guidance given by the Network  (see "Next steps"),  a brief scoping review, and consultation through a Network Hui on April 4th 2024, with the opportunity for online submissions.

 
Read the submission here
 
Considering dementia mate wareware in the future of ageing well

This submission to the Future of Ageing Well Funding and Service Models Review brought together all these elements: the Dementia Action Plan, the Leadership Group, the Network, and the New Zealand Dementia Foundation. We particularly note the contribution of an online Network hui-hosted with over 100 participants.

We have a simple message. Dementia is not normal ageing. If dementia awareness is not "baked in" to the core goals and principles of our funding and service models then services will be poorly aligned with the needs of people living with dementia mate wareware.

Read here

Whai Whakaaro - Let's Plan Together: Next steps for dementia mate wareware diagnosis and workforce development (April and May 2023 hui)
The Dementia Mate Wareware Network met in April and May 2023 to consider their recommendations for next steps for selected areas of the action plan. 
You can read a booklet that summarises their recommendations. 
 
Read the booklet
Kia Mahi Tahi - Let's Work Together: Considering advice to commissioners for the Budget 2022 initiatives (Feb 2023 Hui)

Te Whatu Ora invited the Dementia Governance Ecosystem to provide advice to government about the commissioning process for the Budget 2022  Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan project. The Network was invited to participate in a survey in January and a hui in February 2023. You can read a booklet that summarises the advice and the main messages from the Network.
 
Read the booklet
 Kōrero Mai: Let’s talk: What does the Network want to see? (Nov 2022 hui)
The inaugural hui discussion centred on what participants wanted the Network to be like and what they want for the Dementia Mate Wareware Ecosystem. The "Kōrero Mai: Let’s talk" booklet that summarises the key messages that came out of this discussion. This document provides an important manifesto from the ecosystem.
Read the booklet