Member Heather Clay said she knew of situations where meals-on-wheels drivers or elderly neighbours had to help people out of bed and some people were living in squalor.
It was easy to say that cuts were needed and attention had to be paid to those instances where there might be abuse of the system, but some people were struggling.
Member Dr Sajan Bhatia said he felt the system was abused by people who were getting more than they needed.
He gave the example of someone who was 80 years old who could mow their lawns or take their dog for a two-hour walk but were getting several hours of help weekly.
Errol Millar also referred to the need for hours to be allocated to people who needed help, referring to cases he had heard of where people had to juggle their home-help around their bowling club or other appointments.
The boards were not about taking money away from people who deserved help, he said.
Their comments came after a presentation to the committee from the boards' needs assessment and service co-ordination (NASC) staff which provoked questions about how reviews of patient needs were carried out.
Planning and funding general manager David Chrisp said in Southland letters were being sent to patients with what was regarded as low need to advise their amount of housework help would be reduced.
But about a quarter of those who received the letters were seeking a reassessment because they said they would not be able to manage.
That was generating extra work for assessors.
If the thousands of clients across the region were all to be reassessed with home visits, it would be a massive job, which would need an army of assessors.
NASC Southland manager Tracey Kubala-McIntosh had told the meeting that among the challenges for the service were an increasing number of referrals and its ability to meet the expectations of clients, family, other services and the boards.
There was also concern about the service being expected to be an emergency service, which it was not.
Committee member Louise Carr said services should take a holistic view of a patient and this involved arranging services which might be funded, but also looking at natural supports in the community.
If a neighbour could help get someone out of bed and was happy to do that, then that could be part of that person's care.
In future, it would be best if the NASC service were provided through general practice, rather than a hospital-based service, and she hoped that this would be done through the primary health organisation eventually.
Both boards are trying to reduce spending on community services for people over 65, because they are not funded to the level of service which is being provided.
The committee discussed the progress on planning for this in its closed session.
This included discussion on plans to change the way the NASC service works in rural areas and the review of the way support is allocated.
Speaking after the meeting, chairman Neville Cook said these matters were in closed session because they were not finalised and there were some matters of commercial sensitivity around them.
The committee had an extensive discussion about the bureaucracy involved in the NASC operation.
