Care-dependent Otago residents - particularly those in rural areas - will suffer when impending allowance cuts for support workers are made, an industry employee in the region warns.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, is a support worker employed by Dunedin-based firm Nursing New Zealand (NNZ).
She told the Otago Daily Times she would be losing more than 10% of her earnings from November 23, and was worried her job - as well as those of others in her position - would no longer be viable.
"My travel reimbursement will be cut by 20km per day worked and at the same time, pay levels will be frozen. It will equate to a pay cut of more than 10% and I find this untenable," she said.
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has introduced travel allowance cuts as one of several reductions in the home health sector.
The support worker said it would be clients who would ultimately suffer.
She said she had cared for one of her clients for more than two years, and it would be difficult for that person to accept changes in care if she was forced to look for other employment.
"Some of the most vulnerable members of our community - people who have already had a terrible time due to their injuries - will be forced to take whatever workers don't object to these conditions, and this will quite possibly mean a reduction in the level of care that they enjoy. I think the very worst thing is that these clients rely on having workers that they know and trust, and now that will all be destroyed due to a cost-cutting directive," she said.
The woman was told by NNZ she was a valued worker, but she said she was still being "slapped in the face".
"ACC is banking, literally, on the fact that support workers are really lovely people who do not want to leave their clients in the lurch, so they think they can do what they like to us. We were just rung up and told it was happening on November 23, that it was final and there was nothing that could be done about it."
The woman is taking her concerns to Minister for ACC Nick Smith, Minister of Health Tony Ryall and National's Otago MP Jacqui Dean.
Other organisations involved in the care of ACC-funded clients have voiced concern about the cuts.
