Kāpiti Coast Grey Power Vice-President Roger Booth, who is a District-wide candidate in the Kāpiti Council election, has been appointed to a national review team, set up by Health Workforce New Zealand, to review workforce needs in the aged-care sector.
Health Workforce New Zealand was set up by the Ministry of Health to lead and co-ordinate the planning and development of the health and disability workforce. The Ministry of Health website explains that ‘it ensures that we have a high quality, fit-for-purpose workforce, and that workforce issues are aligned with planning of services. The HWNZ Board is directly accountable to the Minister of Health.’
Mr Booth believes that what has been set up by the Ministry is a step in the right direction. ‘My understanding is that the review looks across the whole sector, both in the interest of discovering modifications that amount to economies, and to redistributing the workforce to where it is needed.
Already the review has led to a number of very useful changes within the sector.
“In this second phase of the work of the panel, they are talking to consumers, and seeing how the sector looks from their perspective. My appointment reflects not only my involvement with Grey Power, but that my varied background helps me look at things from quite a wide perspective.”
Mr Booth, who is Vice President of Kāpiti Coast Grey Power and on the Kāpiti Age Concern committee, worked for 10 years with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. “In my time with NZQA my job involved project managing and facilitating the development of unit standards and qualifications for over a hundred different subjects, through bringing together representatives from both industry and training. Hopefully this experience of how a number of networks function can be added usefully to my current understanding of how well our current health systems work for seniors.”
Mr Booth says his briefing next week will indicate the sort of information he will be expected to bring into the project.
