Clean bill of health for care provider

The first in a series of Government audits into disabled care provider Focus 2000 has found that its actions in claiming public funding are now in line with accepted practices.

The company owned by the Cerebral Palsy Society, one of Auckland's largest disabled care providers, had to repay $2.5 million to the Ministry of Health and district health boards after a 2004 financial audit found it had invoiced the ministry for more hours of home care and personal help than it had provided.

Its quality of care, finances and its organisational and governance structure are now under the scrutiny of ministry officials.

The financial audit said that the company was profitable due to its size and efficiency. This March, Focus 2000 was managing investments totalling $10 million.

But the report did identify two cases where Focus had made claims on ministry funds after a resident's death. The first involved an overpayment of $258, but the second was a series of "inadvertent payments" totalling $267,265 to one family which continued for a number of years after death.

The company has taken steps to recover the money and will reimburse the ministry.

The organisational systems audit found five main areas requiring improvement, including the need for a stronger risk-management system, better ways for clients and their family to have a say in the services they access, and developing a staff culture that supports "normalisation" of service users.

Focus 2000 has undertaken to provide the ministry with a plan tomorrow on fixing the problem areas from both audits.

The ministry's deputy director general of disability services, Geraldine Woods, said officials would work with the company to ensure the audit findings were acted on. They would also attend a Focus 2000 board meeting this month.

Audits, under way at all individual homes managed by the company in Auckland, Hamilton and Rotorua, are expected to be completed by October.

No one from Focus 2000 was available for comment.