The ongoing need of people receiving such care will be reassessed by telephone interview in a programme beginning later this month.
The move is designed to try to cut back the $4.8 million the board spends annually on this group.
Board members were advised yesterday that targets for reductions on spending for the elderly were not being met.
Pressed by board members to provide answers, regional general manager of planning and funding David Chrisp said in the next three months management would be concentrating on reducing costs through telephone reassessments for people receiving housework help of up to two hours a week.
He said he had been initially deliberately vague because all of the issues had not been discussed with staff, but "as of 16th February there will be action".
He conceded that even with this action, spending on the elderly would still be over budget at the end of the year.
In his report, chief regional financial officer Robert Mackway-Jones said he expected home support costs to be $2.7 million higher than planned.
Mr Chrisp said there was good evidence from Auckland University which showed that providing small amounts of housework help could create a culture of dependency.
The focus should be on encouraging people to undertake tasks such as vacuuming wherever possible.
There would be extra training for needs assessors to undertake the telephone reassessments.
Such reassessments were done successfully by other boards.
After the meeting, Mr Chrisp said it would be the middle of next week before more detail would be available on the reassessment plans.
Staff would be briefed on Monday and other home-support providers, and organisations such as Age Concern and Grey Power had also not yet been briefed.
Board chairman Errol Millar said the move was not about denying services to anyone who genuinely needed assistance.
Some board members were critical of the adequacy of a telephone conversation.
Louise Rosson said her 90-year-old mother, who received one hour of help, would probably agree not to have it, because she did not want to be a bother.
Mr Chrisp said someone in that age bracket was "not the target audience". Member Louise Carr said the board needed to be careful that a short-term fix to make savings did not result in a " burgeoning balloon" in care later on.
It was difficult to make comprehensive assessments without a face-to-face meeting in someone's home.
The board has been trying to cut costs in all areas of community care for the elderly where it says it over-delivers services, according to the national average, by about $9 million a year.
