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Budget 2009

Budget 2009 announced that Work and Income will not be continuing with the Health and Disability Innovation Fund Services beyond 30 June 2009. This includes:

• Mild to Moderate Mental Health
• Awaiting Treatment
• Pain Management - Work and Income-funded PGAP and PDP programmes
• Lifeskills for Work.

We will continue to support people who have started a service prior to 30 June 2009 to complete their service by the agreed date and aim to commence employment. In this situation, Work and Income will fund the service.

Awaiting Treatment (Innovation Fund)

The Awaiting Treatment service provides people who have remedial medical conditions with timely access to specialist assessments, investigations, treatments and elective services like surgery.

The service features an initial assessment that may include a specialist medical assessment. The service co-ordinator plans with the client to access one or more of a range of health packages of care based on the client’s needs. These packages of care can include:

• access to further assessments
• participation in treatment programmes (including pharmacological)
• access to elective services, such as elective surgery (e.g. for varicose veins, hernia repair or carpal tunnel release).

Availability

This service is available in the following areas:

• Hawke’s Bay
• Waikato
• Otago

Mild to Moderate Mental Health service (Innovation Fund)

The Mild to Moderate Mental Health services is a mental health assessment and treatment service which provides people with access to treatment for mild to moderate mental health conditions.

The service features an initial assessment that includes use of the industry-standard Kessler 10 assessment tool. The service co-ordinator plans with the client to access one or more of a range of mental health packages of care based on the client’s needs. These packages of care can include:

• cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• counseling
• problem resolution
• extended GP consultations.

Availability

This service is available in the following areas:

• Northland
• Waikato
• Hawke’s Bay
• Taupo
• Horowhenua / Otaki
• Wairarapa
• Wellington
• West Coast
• Western Bay of Plenty
• Taranaki
• Wanganui
• Taieri and Strathmore/Taieri

Pain Management (Innovation Fund)

The Pain Management service is a 10-week activity mobilisation programme which is tailored to meet the work-related needs of people who are struggling with the challenges of a wide range of chronic pain conditions. 

The service offers two programmes:

• The Progressive Goal Attainment Programme (PGAP) for clients:
  • with a persistent pain condition
  • who have been identified as at risk of developing chronic pain
  • with pain symptoms and psychosocial factors that are likely to be significant barriers to return to work
• The Pain Disability Prevention (PDP) programme for clients who, in addition to the above, have mental health related issues, e.g. depression.

The programme cannot be repeated by the client. It's not designed to offer ongoing support to people who may not be work-focused.

Lifeskills for Work (Innovation Fund)

Lifeskills for Work is a workshop-based programme for disabled people and people with ill-health, who have one or more psychosocial issues that prevents them from looking for work or undertaking paid work.

The programme is specifically intended to respond to the following issues in a skills-enabling way:

• motivational issues
• self confidence and/or anxiety issues
• presentation issues
• work preparation and survival skills.

Workshops

The programme will be made up of mandatory and optional workshops. Clients will attend workshops that have been recommended in their initial assessment.

Mandatory workshops will include a range of behavioural management topics, including:

• managing life skills issues, such as self esteem, confidence, communication and stress. In many cases these issues, although not necessarily directly related to work, never the less present as barriers for people seeking a job
• benefits of working, including the relationship between a health or disability issue and sustainable employment
• job search skills, including activities designed to develop skills to locate and obtain work in the context of a chronic health condition or disability, where these are not already offered by Work and Income.

Optional workshops may include:

• workplace readiness, including skills to connect soft skills with successful employment
• work ethics, including communicating with supervisors, conflict resolution and customer service
• planning for success, including skills for future career development
• survival skills, including surviving the first day or week at work and how to self-evaluate job success
• workplace relationships, including tam dynamics and managing workplace humour
• managing the health/work balance, including managing the demands of cyclical health conditions or disability impacts on work commitments
• achieving independent transport, including managing public transport access with confidence when a umber of modalities may feature (ie: train plus bus)
• disability-specific issues, including issues peculiar to vision-impaired or hearing-impaired peoples.

Providing Access to Health Services (PATHS)

PATHS is an employment programme for people on either Sickness Benefit or Invalid's Benefit who want to work but need support to achieve their goal.

PATHS helps people access a wide range of health, employment and community services which assists them to return to work. It funds interventions that would not normally be available through the publicly funded health sector within six months of the issue being identified.

The PATHS service is provided through partnerships between:

• Work and Income
• District Health Boards (DHBs)
• Primary Health Organisations (PHOs)
• Community Mental Health Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).

Availability

 PATHS is available in the following District Health Board regions:

• Counties Manukau
• Bay of Plenty
• Taranaki
• Whanganui
• Mid Central (Manawatu)
• Capital and Coast (Wellington)
• Hutt Valley
• Nelson Marlborough
• Canterbury
• Otago

Targeted Health Interventions (THI)

This service provides funding to help people access single health interventions within three months in areas where PATHS and/or other relevant Innovation Fund health and disability services are not yet available. The person needs a confirmed offer of full-time ongoing employment and must be unable to access the treatment from other publicly funded sources.

The referral process

For a person to be referred to a health and disability service:

• the service must be available in their region
• there should be work opportunities in the local area when the person completes the health service
• they must be willing to participate in the service.

For all services, except Lifeskills for Work, the person’s medical practitioner must indicate that the service would assist that person move into work. They do this by either:

• noting it on the person’s medical certificate
• discussing it with a case manager, Regional Health Advisor or Regional Disability Advisor.

Contact us

The primary contact for most health and disability sector dealings with Work and Income is the Health and Disability Co-ordinator. They:

• liaise with general practitioners and other health and disability providers
• provide information about Work and Income such as:
  • our processes and expectations
  • benefits and eligibility
  • the support we can offer clients
• help with communications between service providers and case managers
• provide Work and Income supplies and resources.

Case managers continue to be the first point of contact for benefit-related issues about an individual.