# Findings Report: Prompt 02 — Health Committee Report Impact **Date:** 7 June 2026 (cron research run) **Prompt:** #2 — Health Committee Report Impact **Category:** Policy Monitor **Status:** HIGH VALUE — substantial findings --- ## What Was Searched 1. `"Health Committee" "aged care" 14 recommendations government response 2026 New Zealand` 2. `Health Committee aged care report recommendations government implementation 2025 2026 site:beehive.govt.nz OR site:health.govt.nz` 3. `Health Committee 14 recommendations aged care 2025 New Zealand government response tracker progress implementation` 4. `aged care Health Committee 14 recommendations NZACA NZNO Alzheimers NZ reaction response 2026` 5. `"Health Committee" aged care 14 recommendations list 2025 New Zealand` 6. `NZNO "aged care" Health Committee inquiry response 2025 2026 New Zealand` 7. `Budget 2026 aged care funding New Zealand announcement Casey Costello` 8. `Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group April 2026 draft report progress New Zealand` 9. `ACA Aged Care Association Budget 2026 response "missed opportunity" aged care New Zealand` --- ## What Was Found ### 1. Health Committee Report — Full 14 Recommendations (20 Nov 2025) The Health Committee, chaired by **Sam Uffindell (National)**, tabled its report on **20 November 2025**. The inquiry focused on **neurological cognitive disorders (dementia)** and received **100+ submissions**. The 14 recommendations (per Scoop.co.nz) are: **Access to aged care services and support:** 1. Permit rest homes to carry out NASC assessments (with quality assurance by NASC assessors) 2. Explore ways to provide culturally appropriate care and continuity of care **Aged residential care:** 3. Establish reporting model separating funding into three streams: accommodation, daily living, clinical care 4. Address bed shortfall — capital grants, depreciation incentives, consent relief, anchor contracts, IFF Act, NIFFCo financing 5. Enable more dementia beds using similar funding tools 6. Further work on end-of-life care pathways including hospice 7. Enable alternative care models (e.g., CARE Village in Rotorua) **Home and community support services (HCSS):** 8. Encourage flexible HCSS contracting so contractors can perform holistic range of tasks 9. Enable retirement care village providers to deliver home and community care (and vice versa) 10. Longer-term contracts and national consistency of HCSS funding **Carers and aged care workforce:** 11. Consider setting up regular respite care programme 12. Longer-term agreements and certainty of funding/conditions for sustainable workforce 13. Policy/funding changes for provider sustainability must be accompanied by workforce protections 14. Continue working to reduce gender-based pay discrimination in aged care **Source:** [Scoop — Health Committee Reports Findings](https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2511/S00065/health-committee-reports-findings-of-aged-care-inquiry-to-the-house.htm) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) --- ### 2. Government Response (10 March 2026) The Government tabled its formal response on **10 March 2026** via **Associate Health Minister Hon Casey Costello** (NZ First). Key points: - Government **welcomed** the report and noted all 14 recommendations - Recommendations will be considered through existing work, **primarily via the Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group** - Minister Costello stated: _"New Zealand has very good aged care, but there are challenges…"_ - Government committed to _"ensuring people needing aged care, including those with neurological cognitive disorders are supported"_ **Source:** [Beehive — Health Committee inquiry will help inform aged care service improvements](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/health-committee-inquiry-will-help-inform-aged-care-service-improvements) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) **NOTE:** The existing KB source brief (`02_Aged_Residential_Care/2025 - Health Committee - Source Brief - Aged Care Inquiry 14 Recommendations.md`) attributes the Government response to **Hon Matt Doocey (National)** as Minister of Health. However, the Beehive release dated 10 March 2026 quotes **Hon Casey Costello (Associate Minister of Health)**. This discrepancy should be resolved by checking the actual tabled document on Parliament's website. --- ### 3. Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group — Latest Status The Advisory Group was established in **January 2026**, chaired by **Hon David Cunliffe** (former Labour Cabinet Minister), with 10 members. Per its Terms of Reference: - **Draft report due:** 17 April 2026 (passed) - **Final report due:** 31 May 2026 (passed) - **Group's scope:** Funding model, cost sharing, contracting & regulatory settings - **As of 7 June 2026**, the final report has **NOT been made public** The Ministry of Health page was last updated **4 June 2026** — still states "report expected mid-2026." **Sources:** - [Ministry of Health — Aged Care Ministerial Advisory Group](https://www.health.govt.nz/about-us/new-zealands-health-system/health-system-roles-and-organisations/health-committees-and-boards/aged-care-ministerial-advisory-group) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) - [ToR PDF](https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/2025-12/aged-care-ministerial-advisory-group-terms-of-reference-december-2025.pdf) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) - [Russell McVeagh — Watching Brief March 2026](https://www.russellmcveagh.com/insights-news/watching-brief-march-2026/) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) --- ### 4. Budget 2026 — Aged Care Funding Budget 2026 provided **$5.5b extra health funding** including **272,000 additional aged care bed nights**. However: - **ACA (Tracey Martin):** "Budget 2026 missed the chance to stabilise aged care" — op-ed in The Post. Called for targeted infrastructure grants, better use of ARC for rehabilitation/respite, admission/discharge payments. Noted another 40-bed charity facility closure due to unsustainable funding. - **Alzheimers NZ (Catherine Hall):** "Budget 2026 fails to meet fast-growing dementia challenge." Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan remains unfunded. 3 new dementia diagnoses per hour (≈500/week). Projected 1 in 4 NZers will die with dementia. Annual cost projected ~$10 billion by 2050. - **Accommodation bonds** being explored as new funding mechanism (Grant Thornton analysis). **Sources:** - [The Post — Budget 2026 missed chance to stabilise aged care](https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/361015120/budget-2026-missed-chance-stabilise-aged-care) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) - [Scoop — Budget 2026 fails dementia challenge](https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2605/S00109/budget-2026-fails-to-meet-fast-growing-dementia-challenge.htm) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) - [Grant Thornton — Accommodation bonds](https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/insights/budget-2026-could-accommodation-bonds-help-solve-nzs-residential-aged-care-crisis/) (referenced in tracker) --- ### 5. NZNO — Aged Care Whānau Impact Report (2025) NZNO (nurses union) published an **"Aged Care Whānau Impact Report"** in 2025, based on surveys and interviews with staff. The report was presented to relevant government ministers. NZNO also has an ongoing **pay equity claim** for Bupa aged care registered nurses, addressing historic gender-based wage discrimination. **Source:** [NZNO Media Releases](https://www.nzno.org.nz/about_us/media_releases) (accessed 7 Jun 2026) --- ## KB ACTION Required ### A. Update existing source brief The file `02_Aged_Residential_Care/2025 - Health Committee - Source Brief - Aged Care Inquiry 14 Recommendations.md` has several inaccuracies: 1. The 14 recommendations listed in the KB differ from the actual 14 recommendations (e.g., KB lists "Improve equitable access" as rec #1 but actual rec #1 is about NASC assessments by rest homes) 2. The Government response minister is listed as Matt Doocey but the Beehive release quotes Casey Costello 3. The KB status table says "Health NZ funding model review" for responsiveness tracking — needs updating with actual government progress **Recommendation:** Patch the source brief with correct recommendation text and accurate attribution. ### B. Update tracker file The file `16 Political & Campaign Intelligence\07_Bills_Hansard_Votes_and_Questions\2026 Tracker - Aged Care Funding and Residential Care.md` should be updated to add: - The actual 14 recommendations detail - ACA's Budget 2026 response (Tracey Martin op-ed in The Post) - Note that the Advisory Group draft report deadline (17 April 2026) and final report deadline (31 May 2026) have both passed without publication - Alzheimers NZ Budget response - NZNO's Aged Care Whānau Impact Report (2025) - Note about Russell McVeagh legal briefing covering the inquiry ### C. Create this findings file ✅ Done (this file). --- ## Cross-References | KB File | Relationship | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | `02_Aged_Residential_Care/2025 - Health Committee - Source Brief - Aged Care Inquiry 14 Recommendations.md` | Main source brief — needs correction | | `16 Political & Campaign Intelligence\07_Bills_Hansard_Votes_and_Questions\2026 Tracker - Aged Care Funding and Residential Care.md` | Tracker — needs new entries | | `07_Dementia/` | Alzheimers NZ responses link to dementia action plan tracking | | `05_Funding/` | Budget 2026 allocations and accommodation bonds discussion | --- _Generated by automated research agent — cron job run 7 June 2026_