Needs Assessment & Service Co-ordination (NASC)

All Needs Assessment referrals are processed through Community Central.

Community Central is the referral co-ordination centre for Community Health Teams.

Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination (NASC) services are the entry into publically funded Community Support Services for:

• people over 65 years who have a disability that will last longer than 6 months and results in a reduction of independent function to the extent that ongoing support is required
• people [over 16 years] who have a need for short-term [2 - 6 weeks] personal health support  – e.g following surgery or an admission to hospital
• people who need home based services who have a palliative care diagnosis
• people aged less than 65 years who have a chronic health condition long term disability and very high support needs as a result of chronic disease who meet the eligibility for the Long Term Services Chronic Health Conditions [LTS –CHC]. This service was previously known as the Interim Funding Pool [IFP].

The assessment is to evaluate the needs, strengths and preference of the person.  The assessment tool used is interRAI - an internationally validated needs assessment tool mandated for use by NASC services by the Ministry of Health.

Services - NASC will link you to the services [via contracted providers] to meet your assessed needs; these may include but are not limited to the following:

• Homebased Support Services e.g. Personal Cares and Household Management
• Meals on Wheels
• Day care for people
• Carer support
• Respite care
• Residential care – (NASC will give you subsidy forms to complete if you need to apply for the Government Residential Care subsidy).

Counties Manukau Health NASC is committed to providing services which support the Positive Aging, Disability Strategy and the Health of Older People's Strategy. NASC has a range of professional clinical Needs Assessors and a wide cultural mix. Please advise if the client prefers an Assessor of a specific ethnicity or requires an interpreter and the service will do our best to oblige.

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