Guiding Principles
National non-government organisations who are participants in the New Zealand Carers Alliance have developed, and are committed to, these Guiding Principles.
1. Caregiving issues must be a central component of healthcare, long term care and social service policymaking.
2. Carers must be protected against the financial, physical and emotional consequences of caregiving which can put at risk their own health and wellbeing.
3. Carers must have access to affordable, readily available, high quality respite care as a key component of a supportive services network.
4. Carers must be supported by family-friendly policies in the workplace in order to meet their caregiving responsibilities. These may include, but not be limited to, flexitime, job-sharing, counselling, information and referral to community services.
5. Carers must have appropriate, timely and ongoing information, learning, advice, and support in order to successfully meet their caregiving responsibilities and to be effective advocates for their families across all settings.
6. Carers and their family members must have affordable, readily available, high quality, comprehensive services that are coordinated across all care settings.
7. Carers and those they support must be assured of affordable, well qualified and sustainable health care services across all care settings.
8. Carers and their families must have access to regular comprehensive reviews of their own needs to determine what assistance they require, with the assurance that within reason these needs will be met.
9. Carers must have a separate, formal, and specific voice in determining services to meet their own needs, recognising that these are sometimes different to those of the person they support.