How Should We Care for the Carers, Now and Into the Future? Manaaki tangata

How Should We Care for the Carers, Now and Into the Future? Manaaki tangata
Date of publication: March 2010

Summary of publication

This report makes recommendations to the Minister of Health about how to better support and provide services for informal carers. The National Health Committee considers that informal carers need to be well supported in their role, to protect their health and wellbeing so they can provide care in a sustainable and positive way.

The Committee has defined an informal carer as someone who cares for a friend, family member or neighbour who because of sickness, frailty or disability, can't manage everyday living without help or support.

New Zealand's health and disability system is facing several pressures, including an ageing population and the increasing prevalence of long-term conditions. These trends are likely to significantly increase the demand for family and friends to provide care. Therefore, carers are becoming integral to the sustainability of the health and disability sustem, because they care for people with a variety of needs who may otherwise require support from publicly funded services.

The report's recommendations are grouped into the following sections:

Reducing fragmentation in the care system
Achieving national consistency and local flexibility of services
Raising awareness
Improving workforce capability
Preparing for the future

The Committee would like to thank everyone who participated in the research that informed this project. Your willingness to share your stories provided the Committee with valuable insights into the ongoing commitment informal carers make to the people they care about.

Further reading

A Care Ethic for Informal Carers (PDF, 156 KB)

The essay, A Care Ethic for Informal Carers provides a framework within which to discuss the ethical question, what is the 'right thing' for carers to do when caring for someone with a severe disability? The essay aims to look beyond the burdens faced by carers to what the best care might look like in practice. The paper suggests that the goal of care is to help the person being cared for to live a life that is expressive of the human condition. That is, to provide care beyond ensuring mere survival and meeting the basic physical needs of the person being cared for. Discussions about the ethics of care must represent both the perspective of the carer and the person being cared for.

Mary Butler is a research fellow in the Injury Prevention Research Unit at the University of Otago.

The Interface between Informal Caring and Formal Services in New Zealand (PDF, 2 MB)

The National Health Committee commissioned the Auckland University of Technology Caring Interface Research Group to conduct qualitative research into the interface between informal caring and formal services provided for carers in New Zealand.

There were 70 participants in the study: 39 informal carers, 23 formal providers and 8 carer advocates. The study was completed in two parts:

a review of the international literature, highlighting new and innovative ways of delivering formal support to informal carers, and a scan of the New Zealand literature for models of care and formal supports provided to informal carers
interviews and focus groups with informal carers, carer advocates and formal care service providers.

Findings from the study are categorised under four themes:

knowledge exchange
quality care
one size does not fit all
a constant struggle.

The report makes four recommendations about improving the interface between informal caring and formal care services in New Zealand.

Download this publication

PDF: How Should We Care for the Carers, Now and Into the Future? Manaaki tangata (PDF, 634 KB)

Word: How Should We Care for the Carers, Now and Into the Future? Manaaki tangata (Word, 823 KB)

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Publishing information

Date of publication: March 2010

ISBN numbers: 978-0-478-35903-9 (print), 978-0-478-35904-6 (online)

Citation: National Advisory Committee on Health. 2010. How Should We Care for the Carers, Now and Into the Future? Manaaki tangata. Wellington: National Advisory Committee on Health.