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Health New Zealand has denied accusations that it has shut the aged-care sector out of its planning for future models of care, saying it is still exploring various options.
The Aged Care Association has criticised Health New Zealand for failing to include them in its major redesign.
Its chief executive Tracey Martin said they were only getting piecemeal information, but what they had seen was worrying, with indications that Health NZ intended to cut 200,000 hospital bed nights a year to save money, a directive from Health Minister Shane Reti.
"We are highly concerned about the direction of travel at Te Whatu Ora at the moment, which we believe is writing a Cabinet paper that is going to make it harder to get into residential care while at the same time removing some of the home and community supports to save money," she told RNZ's Nine To Noon.
However, Te Whatu Ora director of ageing well Andy Inder said the agency was taking feedback on board.
"We have actively socialised concept models through our stakeholder engagement with sector representatives, providers, and users of the aged-care sector services," he said in a statement.
This week, health officials met with the Ministry for Primary Industries seeking wider advice on the ageing population across the motu.
Understanding future demand was critical to ensuring health services outside of aged residential care could continue to have capacity to care for older New Zealanders in the community, Inder said.
"Across agencies and entities, we need to start thinking and operating in the context of wider health, social and economic services, and circumstances, to ensure any operating model concept can and will work to meet the needs of our current and future ageing population. To do so in isolation would be remiss."
As yet there was no confirmed date to provide any advice to Cabinet, he said.
"Our projections based on a range of yet to be finalised options, does not suggest we will need or require 8000 additional home and community support workers [as calculated by the Aged Care Association]. This indicative modelling has been shared with sector representatives and discussed at length in a range of forums over the past four months."
