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Browsing: Needs Assessment Service Co-Ordination

Introduction

Throughout this booklet we will use the term "NASC" which stands for "Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination".

Needs Assessment is a process that helps to identify and document your strengths, abilities, needs, and goals while you have an illness or disability. Service Co-ordination links supports and services to the needs that are identified in your Needs Assessment.

Confidentiality is an important part of the Needs Assessment process. This means that no one can discuss the personal details about you or your family without your permission.

What is a Needs Assessment – NA?

Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination (NASC) organisationsare the gateway to disability and health support services.The Needs Assessment helps to determine what the person'sabilities, resources, goals and needs are and then helps toidentify which of these is the most important.

You can request a Needs Assessment yourself, or this maybe done for you by your GP, social worker, family carer, or acommunity organisation. An assessment can take place whereveryou choose, such as in your own home, workplace, or at NeedsAssessment Service Co-ordination (NASC) offices.

The assessor, also known as assessment facilitator, will talk to you about your situation. A report will be put together that identifies your needs such as:

  • what support do I need right now to look after myself, tosleep safely at night, to be in the community, to be sociallyactive, to keep in touch with my friends and family?
  • do I need a place to live?
  • do I need a break from my family?
  • do I need something to do during the day?

Having a Needs Assessment does not guarantee you will be provided with services for all of your needs. It helps to emphasize the needs most important to you within available resources and funding limitations. These resources and funding limitations areusually decided by the government of the day and may change over time.

On initial contact with a NASC service, you will be told what the response timeframes will be to the several steps requiredin order to meet your needs. This means the time period within which they will:

  • respond to your request for a Needs Assessment
  • facilitate the Needs Assessment
  • put services in place

For example, "It is the policy of some services that initial contact will be made within 2 working days of receipt of the referral and which we do by writing a letter that says we will consider their request at our referral meeting on (date)."

If you are not given this information please ask. This will ensure you are comfortable with the process and know what is going to happen and when.

You will receive a copy of your Needs Assessment report and you will be asked to sign it.

Why might I need a Needs Assessment?

You may have a disability lasting longer than six months, or a personal health problem that is physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric, neurological, age related, or caused through injury. You may require supports ranging from equipment to financial in order to provide services to maintain your lifestyle.

What if I do not understand, or I disagree with the Needs Assessment?

Firstly, it is your right to have a friend or family member at the assessment. Secondly, it is important that you understand the assessment process. If you do not understand what is happening or when, make sure you tell the person involved with you at the assessment. If you do not tell them, they will not know. Thirdly, if you are not happy with the assessment or assessor, you can request an alternative assessor from the NASC agency.

What is Service Co-ordination (SC)?

Service Co-ordination is a separate process that is about finding the best solutions to meet your identified needs. A service coordinator will read your Needs Assessment report and look for the best way to meet your needs within the resources and funding available.

A Service Co-ordinator can tell you what supports might be available, what funding support you may be entitled to, and can then help you to access and co-ordinate such services. The NASC agency will not directly provide the support services they organise for you. You have the right to choose the provider or agency supplying the support service.

Then the NASC agency contacts the service provider and contracts them to work on your behalf.

In some cases you may nominate a client preferred worker, who might be a friend or neighbour, who could be employed by the service provider. See your NASC agency for more information on this.

Important things to know:
  • You do not have to pay for Needs Assessment or Service Co-ordination.
  • If you have specific cultural needs, make these known. You can have a Maori assessor if you wish to speak Te Reo.
  • You can ask for an interpreter if you wish to use another language including New Zealand Sign Language.
  • You can choose where an assessment takes place.
  • Nothing will happen without your permission, unless the circumstances require otherwise. The NASC provider is bound by law to help you if your health is at risk.
  • NASC agencies can help with all sorts of things, but only if you share your needs with the Needs Assessor. It is important that you mention all your needs to the Needs Assessor. A good idea is to prepare this information before the assessment by writing down those issues you want discussed or considered.
  • It is important to consider your carer's needs in an assessment. There may be a friend or family/whanau member who usually provides care for you on an informal basis. This person may be entitled to Carer Support through the assessment process. You may need to check the current guidelines of the provider. Carer Support gives paid days or half days for someone else, or to people who provide relief care in a formal setting, ie. a rest home, to care for you so that your family/whanau carer can have a break from the caring role. You or your carer can ask for this or you or your carer can ask your GP or assessment facilitator about this.
  • If you hold an Enduring Power of Attorney for someone who is deemed incompetent to make decisions or understand consequences, you must be informed of every step of the NASC process that involves that person.
  • Assessments are reviewed regularly but if your needs change you have a right to ask for a re-assessment or review of your case.
  • If you are under the age of 65, or turn 65 and currently receive services via a NASC, you will be funded via the Disability Support Directorate, MOH, unless it becomes an ‘age related' issue.
  • If you are over 65 your needs assessment and funding will be provided by your local District Health Board.

A Needs Assessment may lead to other Needs Assessments and this can sometimes be quite confusing. For example you may have a Needs Assessment facilitated through a NASC which identifies a new issue that requires:

  • an assessment to be done by a mental health agency. Another example is that a Needs Assessment through a NASC may lead to an assessment from Group Special Education to ensure that needs are met at home and at school.
  • If you have a Community Services Card you may be able to access domestic assistance, someone to help you with housework if your Needs Assessor has indicated to you the need for someone to help you. You do not need a Community Services Card to access personal care, such as showering or getting you ready for bed.
  • You may move out of the area either permanently, or temporarily, for example for a holiday. In either of these situations it is possible to ask for an Inter-NASC Transfer, which means the supports you require will be transferred to your new location. Contact the Needs Assessment Agency for advice on this.
  • Inter-NASC transfers do not apply to respite care arrangements.
  • NASC agencies are contracted to work to certain timeframes. These timeframes vary so it is important to ask the Needs Assessor, at the first meeting, what is the timeframe for your needs assessment, service co-ordination, and start date of service. In other words you have a right to know how long you will have to wait for each step of the process.
Concerns/Complaints

If you have a concern or complaint about the process or the services that are put in place, or the staff providing the service, there are a variety of ways you may express your concerns or make a complaint.

  • Initial concern or complaint, for example if your home support worker does not turn up, or makes you sign something that is not true, contact the home support agency to complain.
  • If nothing happens as a result of this complaint, your next step is to contact the NASC service co-ordinator.
  • If nothing happens as a result of a complaint, contact the Health and Disability Advocates on (03) 479 0265.

FOR MORE SPECIFIC INFORMATION REFER TO THE CHAPTER MOST SUITED TO YOUR SITUATION