Home / The Plan / History of the Plan 2015-2020 / Sustainability
Flexibility across Kaiāwhina roles is encouraged and supported by funding structures. Workplace conditions and human resource systems support staff, provide job security and system stability. As new models of service delivery emerge the contribution of Kaiāwhina is integrated.
Of the seven actions in this domain, Actions 1.2, 1.3 and 3.2 have been completed while the remaining four are ‘in progress’ as at 30 June 2020.
Significant funding settlements, introduced from 2014 onwards, recognise, enable, support and promote the role of Kaiāwhina. They include the In Between Travel Settlement (2014), the Guaranteed Hours Settlement (2017), the Care and Support Workers Pay Equity Settlement (2017), and the Pay Equity for Mental Health and Addiction Support Workers Settlement (2018). These latter two increased the wage rates of Kaiāwhina to at least the living wage level and saw wages based on level of qualification or length of service, whichever was the most advantageous to the worker. Provision for training is an important part of the agreements, leading to a more consistently prepared workforce with appropriate qualifications.
A number of work programmes, strategies, guidance and action plans now recognise the importance of the Kaiāwhina workforce within an integrated health and disability workforce. Significantly, the Health and Disability Systems Review’s Interim Report published August 2019, highlighted the need for funders and providers to take a strategic approach to growing the Kaiāwhina workforce over the next five years.
At a macro level, the settlements outlined in the Funding structures section above are helping provide system stability and reduced staff turnover. Analysis of the Care and Support Workforce Qualification Attainment, (December 2019), found that there has been an increase in Kaiāwhina holding qualifications in the three sectors involved in the report (home and community support, disability, and mental health and addiction) and that most employers are taking reasonable and practicable steps to support this workforce to gain qualifications in the timeframes specified in the settlements.
The Ministry of Health continues to signal the importance of the Kaiāwhina workforce to planners and policy makers including an expectation that they include this workforce in any service design and workforce planning they are doing. There are tangible examples of the inclusion of Kaiāwhina as an essential workforce in the development and implementation of emerging models of care, policy frameworks, strategy settings, and sector development initiatives.
Given the statements made in the Health and Disability Sector Review Interim Report about the important role and contribution of Kaiāwhina in New Zealand having a sustainable health and disability system it is anticipated that the final report will also include reference to this workforce and promote the value of the many different roles Kaiāwhina hold as members of interprofessional teams. It is also expected that the report will emphasise the need to increase the number of, and support provided to, Māori and Pacific Kaiāwhina.
This aligns with the Kaiāwhina Taskforce 2020-2025 Priority 3: Accelerating new ways of working and eco-system thinking.
KPIs to monitor improvement in job security and retention across the sector will be further developed including staff retention/turnover rate measures. The NZ Care Workforce Survey undertaken biannually by AUT; the Workforce Reports published annually by Te Pou; and the District Health Boards’ Health Workforce Information Programme (HWIP) future forecasting reports are examples of information which can help guide the setting of KPIs.
This aligns with the Kaiāwhina Taskforce 2020-2025 Priority 5: Supplying and developing the workforce; Priority 4: Creating workforce knowledge and data.
The commitment of the Health Workforce Advisory Board to the continuation of the Kaiāwhina Workforce Taskforce will assist with the on-going promotion of the value and understanding of Kaiāwhina as members of integrated teams. The Wellbeing Budget 2019 has a number of health workforce priorities which signal the need to further develop the Kaiāwhina workforce, including having a focus on mental health and addictions and on growing a sustainable Māori and Pacific health workforce including Kaiāwhina roles.
This aligns with the Kaiāwhina Taskforce 2020-2025 Priority 3: Accelerating new ways of working and eco-system thinking; Priority 2: Connecting Kaiāwhina, Priority 1: Building cultural competency; Priority 5: Supplying and developing the workforce.
