Dunedin area home-based support clients start switching to new providers from this week.
Clients are switching from outgoing providers Presbyterian Support Otago (PSO), CCS Disability Action, and the Southern District Health Board's in-house service, to the Australian-owned Royal District Nursing Service NZ (RDNS NZ), Access Homehealth, and Healthcare NZ.
The bulk of clients are moving to the RDNS NZ.
The Dunedin area changeover, part of the wider reorganisation of the service, is expected to take about four weeks.
Being overlooked for the service meant PSO lost more than 460 staff.
Auckland-based RDNS NZ chief executive Scott Arrol declined to say how many staff had been hired for the southern service, claiming it was not relevant.
Apart from a human resources officer in Invercargill, all the service administration would be carried out in Auckland. The three providers worked together closely under the new service model, he said.
Planning and funding executive director Robert Mackway-Jones said in a written statement a ''small number'' of clients in the Dunedin area would transfer to Access Homehealth and Healthcare NZ, while RDNS NZ picked up the majority.
''The process has been working well and most clients and their support workers are transferring to the same provider,'' he said.
