KEY POINTS:
A terminally ill cancer patient had to haul himself out of bed to go to a Work and Income office because no one would come to him, Parliament was told today.
National welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins was commenting on a damning social services committee report on Work and
Income's treatment of terminally ill patients.
The committee had considered a petition of Richard Burr, Jackie Phoenix and over 4000 others seeking better income support for cancer sufferers.
Mr Burr and Ms Phoenix have since died.
Alison Burr, Mr Burr's wife, had told the committee that Work and Income staff had been insensitive, did not empathise, were poor communicators and gave inconsistent advice and information about help the couple were entitled to.
The report said it was also concerned that Work and Income never offered to visit the couple.
"Even when at one stage Mr Burr had to leave hospital for several hours to attend an appointment."
The Ministry of Social Development said visits were decided on a case-by-case basis.
The Burrs were not provided with a case manager and had to go over their case with a different staff member every time.
Mrs Burr was also sent a letter after her husband died asking him to fill out a review form for temporary additional support.
The committee made several recommendations including:
* that the ministry install a blocking mechanism so letters could not be sent automatically to people who were dead;
* improve records so all staff can access them;
* case manager allocation be improved;
* terminally ill patients have a single case manager;
* better systems and policies so home visits are more widely available.
The report said the petition had raised serious problems and it did not think the case was isolated.
It noted Work and Income had extended staff training and introduced specialist case manager roles for ill and disabled people and changes meant fewer ill people now had to do annual reassessment processes to get their benefits.
In Parliament, Mrs Collins criticised the ministry and Work and Income.
She asked if Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson was satisfied with Work and Income's approach to case management and raised the situation where Mr Burr left hospital to see the agency.
"I certainly do accept Mrs Burr's perception of how she was treated by Work and Income and my understanding is the shortcomings in the service delivery have been acknowledged to the select committee the member sits on," Ms Dyson said.
She understood measures were taken to prevent a recurrence of the problems, but was happy to accept the report's recommendations.
However, she said, Mrs Collins was not right to say Mr Burr was forced to go to Work and Income from hospital.
"I dispute the assertion that the member makes that knowing that Mr Burr was terminally ill and was in hospital he was required to attend a work and income office. I dispute that assertion."
Mrs Collins later issued a statement saying Ms Dyson's response was heartless.
- NZPA
