Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Thousands of Covid-hit Kiwis seeking welfare support every day

The daily queue of Kiwis needing welfare after being hit by Covid-19 numbers about 3000 and officials fear that demand will continue for several weeks.

However, one Auckland health and welfare provider is confident Tāmaki Makaurau has seen the worst of Covid and hopes the demand for welfare will slowly decrease.

The Ministry of Social Development was charged with the Care in the Community welfare response for Kiwis impacted by Covid-19 and was armed with $204.1 million to do so from the end of November last year.

Since then, the ministry had received 75,141 requests for support as of Sunday, a third of those requests coming in the seven days prior.

As of Wednesday morning, 3000 people across the country were waiting to be contacted by the ministry.

This number remained fairly steady given about 90 per cent of people waited less than 24 hours to be contacted.

Papakura Marae's Kataraena Thompson and Tony Kake prepare food parcels for distribution. Photo / Michael Craig

Most requests concerned financial assistance and could be dealt with through ministry contact centres. Whānau with more complex needs were generally referred on to local service providers.

"Our staff are working really hard to help people as quickly as possible," ministry client service delivery director Graham Allpress said.

"We're experiencing extremely high demand for Covid-19 welfare support at the moment, and we're helping large numbers of people each day.

"We appreciate how frustrating it can be to experience delays and we're asking people to be patient."

He said staff had been redeployed to cope with the demand which was expected to persist.

"We expect we will continue to experience high demand for several more weeks as Omicron peaks."

Health officials had largely agreed Auckland had reached its Omicron peak while other regions were still seeing case numbers increase.

Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake. Photo / Michael Craig

Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake was not surprised by the number of people waiting for welfare.

"It's consistent with my hunch and what I've been told."

In fact, Kake understood the 3000 figure to be lower than what it had been in recent weeks, when it reportedly numbered as high as 4000.

"Even over the last couple of days, we've seen the numbers reduce in terms of requests for support for people in self-isolation so it's trending the right way, I think we're getting through the peak."

Kake was impressed to see 90 per cent of people received contact within 24 hours, especially after hearing reports of people waiting up to 72 hours and others being declined.

Meanwhile, Kake and another Auckland health and welfare provider head were welcoming financial support from Auckland's health officials that had been delayed for about six months.

Last month, the Herald revealed Papakura Marae and Turuki Healthcare - both in South Auckland - hadn't received any funding for clinical support they had provided for whānau in self-isolation since late last year.

Waimarie Royal, 10, gets her Covid vaccination at Papakura Marae. Photo / Dean Purcell

As often happens, providers had started the mahi before contracts were finalised, with the understanding funding would be confirmed soon after.

However, by mid-February, the two providers had poured staffing and financial resources into helping whānau but had no indication when they would be funded for their work, threatening service provision in other areas.

Now, both providers confirmed to the Herald they had received a preliminary payment in the past two weeks, before discussions over the contracts were held with top Auckland health officials.

Kake, who had a meeting with Counties Manukau DHB officials on Wednesday, was pleased by the intent from the health board to improve co-ordination between both parties.

"That shows that we're moving closer to being in partnership with them as opposed to a 'master-servant, you shall jump this high this many times' type of thing."

Kake had long been a proponent of a "do what it takes" funding approach that would allow local providers to react quickly to the needs of their communities, without having to wait for sign-off which potentially jeopardised wellbeing.

Despite the progress made, Kake didn't hold back when asked whether the funding delay was acceptable.

"Just the mere arrogance of thinking that we'd do it for nothing or think that 'You'll be right and we'll get around to it', well I've got to pay my doctors and nurses today, not in six months."

Registered nurses Jo Thorne and Tasha Rukuata at the Turuki Healthcare Covid-19 testing station in Māngere. Photo / Michael Craig

Turuki Healthcare chief executive Te Puea Winiata was still at a loss as to why their funding took so long to come through.

"I don't know why, with so much expertise in developing funding framework between the Ministry of Health and DHBs, that this would have been so difficult."

Nevertheless, Winiata said there appeared to be equal urgency from all parties to develop contracts to ensure efficient service provision in the future.

"If we were able to secure a contract that gives us 12 to 18 months of surety around our workforce, I would be very happy."

The Northern Region Healthcare Co-ordination Centre, Auckland's Covid response authority, has repeatedly refused to comment on the issue, citing commercial sensitivity.

However, the centre's associate chief clinical officer, Dr Anthony Jordan, stepped up to address the matter at Friday's 1pm Covid update, saying the delays were not acceptable.

"No it's not acceptable, we always try to make sure that we pay our providers in a timely fashion."

He confirmed there would be a priority placed on ensuring providers were given immediate access to necessary funding.

"I think we have to knit up those systems in the background so they can get the money for what they need to provide."