NZ Carers Alliance
Non Profit Coalition for Family Carers

Charities Unite To Support Family Carers

The NZ Carers Alliance is a coalition of 44 national non-profits, which met for the first time in November 2004 to call for a Carers' Strategy for New Zealand.

By working together, the Carers Alliance achieved its goal in April 2008, when the Government launched the New Zealand Carers' Strategy and five year Action Plan.

The Carers Alliance now has a monitoring role, in partnership with the Government, to ensure the Action Plan is delivered as promised.

Carers NZ is the ongoing Secretariat for the Carers Alliance, which meets several times a year.

The Carers Alliance is now considering its future purpose and objectives. Areas of concern for family carers include:

  • Carer Support: This important subsidy for families with health and disability needs is inflexible and access is not equitable.  
  • Needs Assessment and Service Coordination: these agencies are the gateway to all publicly funded support services for families with health and disability needs. We are concerned that decision-making is not always transparent, fair, accountable, or consistent. The Alliance will lobby for improvements to the NASC model, or its replacement with a fairer, more consistent system for families.
  • National Continence Strategy: Continence spending is administered in New Zealand by District Health Boards. There is wide variance in continence services and access to continence supplies region to region. The Alliance is calling for a strategic approach to continence, and is working closely with the NZ Continence Association (an Alliance participant) to achieve this.

We will keep visitors to www.carers.net.nz informed about the activities and strategic goals of the NZ Carers Alliance.

Current participants in the NZ Carers Alliance include:

@ Heart, Access to Medicines Coalition, Age Concern NZ, Allergy NZ, Alzheimers NZ, ANZMES (Associated NZ ME Society), Aotearoa Maori Whanau Carers Network, Arthritis NZ, Autism NZ, BALANCE NZ, Cancer Society of NZ, Carers NZ, CCS Disability Action, Cerebral Palsy Society of NZ, Complex Carers Group, Cystic Fibrosis Association of NZ, DHB Mental Health Family Advisors, Diabetes NZ, Epilepsy NZ, Federation of Disability Information Centres, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Hospice NZ, IHC, Kidney Kids, Lysosomal Diseases NZ, MS Society, Muscular Dystrophy Association of NZ, Neurological Alliance, NZ Continence Association, NZ Down Syndrome Association, NZ Lesbian and Gay Carer Network, NZ Organisation for Rare Disorders, NZ Spinal Trust, Parent to Parent, Parents of Vision Impaired NZ Inc, Parkinsons NZ, Phobic Trust of NZ Inc, Rescare NZ, Retina NZ Inc, SAMS, Supporting Families in Mental Illness NZ, Stroke Foundation, TOA Pacific.