Needs Assessment – Everything you Ever Wanted and Needed to Know

Educational Webinar: Conversational panel with health experts

1. Are you or your family wanting more support at home but not sure how to get the help?
2. Do you want to understand more about how you might be able to get publicly funded help?
3. Would you like to evaluate what is required to maximise living independently at home?

If you or someone you care for is diagnosed with dementia, there may come a time when you may need more support at home. There might be challenges with getting ready in the morning, with mealtimes, medication or wanting to socialise more.

The Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination (NASC) team is the entry point into publicly funded community services. People must have a needs assessment if they want to get access to government-funded help at home. The needs assessment is conducted with the person with dementia and the primary carer to discuss the day-to-day needs of the family.

Dementia New Zealand is hosting a webinar panel discussion with a GP and two Needs Assessors from metro and rural locations and with varying backgrounds. The panel will allow us to gain greater insight into what a needs assessment is and why it is so important. We will discuss the barriers and enablers that the needs assessment team might face and receive general tips and recommendations.

Date: Friday, 28th February 2025
Time: 10am – 11:30am
Online via Zoom. A recording of this webinar will be emailed to those who registered the week following the live event.

Hosted by Brendan Hallam – Dementia Advisor and Educator, Dementia Auckland & Winifred Henderson – Senior Educator Dementia New Zealand.

Expert Panelist Profiles:

Dr Daniel Asquith – General Practitioner

I was an archaeologist before I decided to go into medicine. I trained in the UK at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and qualified in 1997 having also carried out postgraduate research in immunology. I spent five years working in hospital and emergency medicine and qualified as a general practitioner in 2005 in Taunton, Somerset. At that point, I first came to Whitianga on a working holiday. My family and I liked it so much, we returned in 2007 and have been here since.

Amy Harrison – Registered Social Worker

Amy currently works as a Needs Assessor/Service Coordinator for Disability Support Link, Health New Zealand – Waikato. Amy has worked for Disability Support Link since 2009 and  for the last 10 years Amy has been based in Whitianga, covering the Eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula. Within this role Amy assesses need and care plans alongside clients and their families for either home based support services or long term residential care. This may be within the Health of the Older Person (over 65) or long term services Chronic Health Conditions (under 65). Amy and her husband have two teenage children and have close family members living with Dementia.

Robyn Harper – Needs Assessor

Robyn completed a Master of Applied Social Work in 2013. An interest in working with older people led to a career as a Needs Assessor. She has worked for Te Whatu Ora Waitemata and Counties Manukau for 10 years. In the past she has worked with people with dementia in residential care settings and her Masters research project was on caring for people with dementia.