Full paper text [PDF 3515k] - New Zealand Parliament

The high level of
public awareness
of the advocacy
service is refl ected
in the high number
of calls to the
0800 number.
18
3.2 Advocacy
The Nationwide Health and Disability
Advocacy Service is a confi dential service
available, at no cost, to any person in New
Zealand who wants to know about their
rights when using a health or disability
service. This includes how to make and
resolve a complaint as well as how to
achieve improvements to the quality
of services provided. Advocates are
independent. They can be easily contacted
on an 0800 number as well as by free fax
and email.
There are 48 advocates (41 FTEs) located
in 25 community-based offi ces around
the country. This means that 86% of the
total advocacy workforce (56 people) are
frontline advocates.
Over half the core advocates are Maori.
Six are specialist advocates, with three
working with the Deaf community and
three working with refugee/migrant
communities. Although they are based in
Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch,
the specialist advocates cover large
geographical regions to improve access
for consumers from these communities.
The high level of public awareness of the
advocacy service is refl ected in the high
number of calls to the 0800 number; of
the 26,123 calls, 95% of those made during
normal business hours were answered.
This number does not include the calls
made directly to the 48 advocates.