Have your say on the Health and Disability Services Standard

Group Manager, Quality Assurance and Safety, Emma Prestidge says the Ministry of Health and Standards New Zealand have worked together, with the health and disability sector, to review the existing Standards, which set the requirements for providers and aim to ensure a consistent level of care across health and disability services.
 
“This consultation is the last step in a highly collaborative process. We have sought input from people who use services, professionals, and providers throughout the review process, to ensure the revised version is fit-for-purpose, flexible enough to adapt to changing models of care, and reflect people’s views and health and support needs. We also adopted a Tiriti o Waitangi approach to ensure the revised Standard supported service providers to better meet the needs of Māori. This required establishing a robust governance framework and included an initial sector consultation, scoping workshops, and working groups, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all involved,” says Ms Prestidge.
 
The new Standard combines and incorporates four existing Standards: the Health and Disability Services Standard, the Fertility Services Standard, the Home and Community Support Sector Standard and the Interim-Standards for Abortion in New Zealand*.

This revised Standard reflects the shift towards more person- and whānau-centred health and disability services. People are empowered to make decisions about their own care and support in order to achieve their goals, with a stronger focus on outcomes for people receiving support.

The revised standard also changes the framework to separate high-level overarching criteria that apply to all services from service-specific guidance on how the criteria may be met across the various health and disability service settings. This will allow the Ministry of Health to update the service-specific guidance more frequently as models of care change.
 
To make a submission or to find out more, visit the Standards New Zealand website – DZ 8134:2020 (Committee P8134 Health and disability services).
 
Submissions close 13 January 2021.
 
*In March 2020, the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 was passed and responsibility for abortion services changed from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Health. At this time, it was decided that abortion services would be included in the Health and disability services standard.