# Amplifying the Voices of Older People across Aotearoa New Zealand

**Author:** Aged Care Commissioner. **Publisher:** Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC). **Publication:** 7 March 2024, confirmed by HDC; cover dated March 2024. **Original library access:** June 2026. **Source review:** 9 October 2026. **Length:** 56 physical PDF pages, including front matter. **Licence:** CC BY 4.0, stated in the original.

Source: [official HDC publication page](https://www.hdc.org.nz/our-work/aged-care-commissioner/amplifying-the-voices-of-older-people-in-aotearoa-new-zealand/). The original bundled PDF remains unchanged.

## What informs this report

The report combines older people's and whānau experiences, service-provider and agency insights, and cited research. It describes connection and collaboration hui held in person and online in the **first half of 2023**, with other engagement also contributing. It is a scene-setting and advocacy report, not a nationally representative survey or a collection of legal findings against every provider.

Its scope covers health and disability services across primary care, hospitals, home and community support and residential care. References to kaumātua, Pacific matua and disabled people include people aged **50+**, reflecting unequal experiences of ageing. That usage does not create a new service-eligibility rule.

## Main findings and recommendations

The **20 recommendations** seek an integrated continuum of care focused on prevention and helping people navigate services. Recurring concerns include unsafe or delayed transitions from hospital, gaps in reliable home support, difficulty accessing culturally appropriate care, and support for people living with dementia mate wareware.

The commissioner recommends better discharge planning, consistent access to cultural advisors and interpreters, and communication that involves whānau and carers. The report supports kaumātua-led care models and identifies gaps in kaupapa Māori aged-care provision.

It also calls for better workforce information and service monitoring: a national home-support workforce dataset, accurate demand planning, and consumer-experience measures that include the reliability of care. These are recommendations to improve visibility and planning, not confirmation that a complete national dataset or uniform service is already available.

## Reading boundaries and use

The report describes the **2024 context**. Engagement themes must not be converted into national percentages or assumed to describe every service today. Recommendations, innovative examples and planned reviews do not establish subsequent implementation, current capacity or guaranteed access. References to preventive health interventions are historical policy recommendations, not personalised medical advice.

Use the report to frame service-planning and quality-improvement questions about discharge, navigation, cultural safety, reliable home support and workforce gaps. Current clinical or legal decisions need separately verified sources.

**Evidence locations:** physical PDF pages 4–5 (foreword), 7–10 (executive overview and recommendations), 11–15 (scope and engagement), 16 onward (voices and service themes). Printed content page numbering differs from physical PDF numbering; the library count is 56.