Otago and Southland DHBs' Regional Chief Executive Officer said today that older people who are apparently scared of home support loss will continue to get the service. The CEO also expressed serious concerns about the matter by saying that those who really need domestic support will be ensured that they get it. The DHB team has been talking to the stake holders, home-based support providers for detailing them with the review changes. And instructions are also being explained regarding those who are in exceptional circumstances.

Brian Rousseau said, “People housebound with poor vision are the ones who will continue to receive home support. We need to ensure we are spending money on the people who have been assessed as having the greatest need for services, but we must make changes for lower needs people only receiving domestic assistance.”

Further he added, “Older people do need to be supported by all of us and we need to make sure that we are very careful about explaining these changes, as we go through implementing them. There is a limit to our resources, but if we and the community work together we can make the most of what we have. We will continue to provide support where it is necessary to keep people safe in their own homes”.

Expecting physical presence of the members in the meeting, Otago District Health Board Chairman Errol Millar said, "I'm just hopeful that everyone works at coming to the meetings rather than coming in by video conference”.