Network Consultations and Submissions

Budget 2022 had set aside $12 million to support some Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan projects. We discussed the draft advice that the Dementia Mate Wareware Leadership and Advisory Group planned to give Te Whatu Ora regarding commissioning these services.

One of the messages from the first Network meeting in November 2022 was that people expressed a desire to have working groups. In that meeting, participants had the opportunity to spend time in the group of their choice to plan how they wanted to move forward.

This was a two- part priority-setting meeting. We were committed to seeing all the Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan initiatives in place, but we wanted to know what others thought should be the next steps. Te Whakaruruhau mō te Mate Wareware / the Dementia Mate Wareware Leadership and Advisory Group had wanted to hear from participants about what they believed we should focus on.

Each community of interest group had the opportunity to finalise their advice on priorities and share this with the Network meeting. The combined advice from all the communities of interest was then shared with the Leadership group as a "briefing paper" document.

This gathering of the Dementia Mate Wareware Network / Te Tūhononga mō te Mate Wareware was an opportunity to hear updates and feedback on the progress and priorities made possible by all the mahi the Network has put in.

The hui included the following areas:

• Te Whatu Ora's announcement on the projects they have selected for the Budget 2022 funding
• The Leadership Group's response to the Network's recommendations for supporting diagnosis in primary care, family whānau carers, and the professional workforce 
• Updates on engaging with Pasifika providers and communities

The Health NZ Health Workforce Planning and Development team invited the Leadership & Advisory Group to advise them on the dementia mate wareware workforce for the 2024/25 Health Workforce Plan. This meeting was the Network’s opportunity to contribute their expertise to this advice.

Representatives from Ageing Well, Health NZ introduced the Plan at the meeting. Following this, participants worked in breakout rooms to discuss the following questions from the Health NZ workforce planning team:

• What might we have missed or not seen clearly, looking at the data we had available on the dementia sector? They noted that there was relatively limited information about workforce shortages in their core data
• What could they have done over the next year and three years that would have made the most significant difference for them?
• What would success have looked like to them from a Health Workforce Plan?
• Anything else they wanted the team to know and reflect on as they started to shape their next Workforce Plan

Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand recently released the first report from their review of funding and service models for aged care services, which had begun in July of the previous year. The report highlighted some significant challenges facing older people, whānau and their communities, providers, workers, needs assessors, and funders.

Phase two of the review began and focused on developing recommendations for service and funding models that would result in a more integrated care model, improved efficiency in the application of resources, and regulatory and funding regimes that were more fit for purpose.

This online Network meeting, co-hosted by Health NZ, was a significant opportunity for the Dementia Mate Wareware Ecosystem to contribute to future approaches to dementia mate wareware care. Discussions about funding and services were held regarding the following topics:

• Aged residential care
• Home and community support services
• Community support.
• Primary and pharmacy care.