Supporting the Support Workers:
The Value of Sustained Investment for In-Home Healthcare
Visionwest welcomes the Government’s announcement that mileage rates for home and community support workers will increase by 30% (from 63.5 cents to 82.5 cents per kilometre) as part of a wider set of measures responding to cost pressures.
Murray Penman, Visionwest Director of Health Services, says the announcement is a practical step towards fully recognising the essential role that in-home care has in supporting whānau safely in their own communities.
“Home and community support workers do vital work every day — often travelling constantly to get to the people who rely on them. We’re grateful to see that contribution acknowledged just before Easter, and we thank those across the political spectrum who have listened and acted to support this workforce.”
Health care is not “either-or”
Care is not one-dimensional. Support and investment in all kinds of services is crucial to provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Every corner of the health system needs support. Residential care centres need their capacity issues addressed; hospitals need continual development for infrastructure, systems and staffing; and in-home services must be sustainably funded, including the real cost of travel.
Nationwide, home and community services support more than 100,000 elderly and vulnerable people living independently at home. At Visionwest, our Home Healthcare service delivered 1,298,834 hours of in-home support in a year to over 7,000 clients, supported by around 1,300 support workers across Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua/Taupō.
Penman says decisions about aged care need a whole-of-system view. “It’s not either-or,” he says.
“We need both residential care and well-funded home-based support, and when we compare models, it must be apples to apples. You must account for the whole picture: workforce availability, travel time and costs, continuity of care, client complexity, and what is prevented or enabled by different settings across the health system.”
The increase is expected to apply for up to 12 months or end earlier if the price of 91 octane petrol falls below $3 per litre for four consecutive weeks. It will apply to home and community support workers employed by providers contracted to Health New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development, and ACC.
Penman adds, “The strategy of ‘timely, targeted and temporary’ is a great start toward support that is sustained, system-aware, and sufficient.”
Visionwest welcomes continued consideration of the longer-term funding settings that underpin home and community support. For a travel-heavy, community-based workforce, sustainable funding means workers are not left carrying costs that are essential to delivering publicly funded care.
What Visionwest is calling for
- Deepen investment in both residential care and in-home care, because they serve different needs and prevent different kinds of system failure. Ensure funding settings reflect real-world delivery costs, including travel.
- Keep reviewing travel and workforce funding so it remains fair, evidence-based, and sustainable, particularly for rural and high-travel services. Funding needs to keep pace with cost pressures over time.
- Build stronger step-down and restorative supports that help people return home safely after hospital and reduce avoidable admissions.
- Plan with whole-of-system evidence, not single-setting snapshots; including workforce sustainability, rural access, and the full costs of delivery.
Visionwest Media contact:
Communications Manager,
Dale Campbell
dale.campbell@visionwest.org.nz