Access: How many agencies does it take to change a light bulb?
143 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Newer→ Last
-
I have some thoughts on how you might cut through the bureaucracy - write to the Electricity Authority, your DHB, Minister for Energy, Minister of Health and Minister of Social Welfare. Cc them all in on the one letter so they know they'll need to work together on a response. Explain how the process isn't working on the ground as intended - notification is patchy, arranging alternative supply is difficult and expensive. People's lives are in danger because there's no joined up government solutions here. Suggest a joined up solution, especially if it isn't an expensive one (say, power cos provide numbers of medically dependent customers to DHBs, who using that data can purchase a few spare power supplies to lend out for planned power outages, which may not affect more than a handful of people at once), explain the costs of not providing it (hospital nights, risk to health), and see what happens. It may not have any direct results for a while, but I can't think of an obvious roadblock like it being contrary to government policy or so forth.
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
I have some thoughts on how you might cut through the bureaucracy – write to the Electricity Authority, your DHB, Minister for Energy, Minister of Health and Minister of Social Welfare. Cc them all in on the one letter so they know they’ll need to work together on a response.
It couldn't hurt to try, I will have a go along these lines, thanks B Jones
-
Talking about agencies, and problems dealing with them, perhaps we can start with sending the Office of Ombudsmen a message re the lack of transparency and accountability that many state agencies show us. Many have a poor record on OIA requests and how they provide sought information.
As part of a wider review of the OIA practices and processes, and the issues that have come to the attention of the Chief Ombudsman, they are conducting a survey, which ends tomorrow, 05 Nov. 2015.
Some here may wish to participate in that, and send the Ombudsman some feedback, so we may finally get some action on that front:
http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/newsroom/item/review-of-oia-practices-surveys-of-requesters-and-government-workershttps://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OIAsurvey1
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OIASurvey2Having had many disappointments and endless frustrations with OIA responses, some coming only after months, some only offering little information, others not answering any requests at all, I strongly encourage readers here to do at least one of those surveys.
The OIA has never been abused more than under the present government, and many agencies withhold lots of information for dubious reasons, simply doing all to avoid accountability.
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
many agencies withhold lots of information for dubious reasons,
on that note you may be interested to have a look at case note reference 380335 here http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources-and-publications/case-notes/official-information-case-notes
which gives the Ombudsman's take on a particularly dubious reason for withholding information
-
Sacha, in reply to
You finally got a result. Great work. It really does show up the Ministry's culture.
-
Rich of Observationz, in reply to
Hot water cylinder? Usually over 2kW, so you'd need a *lot* of panels, or a battery, *or* and I'm not sure these are available, an inverter that instead of delivering 240v or nothing, adapts its output voltage to match the available input current, which would work with a heating element (but not most other loads). Bonus points for hacking one of those together.
-
Thanks Sacha, Prof Paterson and his team deserve the credit here.
That particular reason won’t be used to decline again. But the Ministry’s strategy was successful in delaying an informative response.
The information ultimately provided was quite limited because almost every NASC claimed not to know total hours of support needed, or the extent of natural support provided- even though assessing these things is their job and FFC policy requires them to record assessed support needs, both paid and unpaid (13.2).
I pointed this out to the Ministry, which has responsibility for the NASCs working to their contracts, and have not given up on this one yet.
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
Do they vent the oxygen to atmosphere?
-
Rich of Observationz, in reply to
Solar panels are optimised to generate power at a fixed voltage - around 18v. If you drain too much current, the voltage goes down and the power goes down by more.
The power converted by a hot water element is proportional to the square of the actual input voltage - to develop full power on a 240v element, you'd need a series solar array of about 15 panels. Even if you made that, it would only work well in full sunlight - in shade, the panel voltage would drop and the panel would be running well below full possible output.
-
linger, in reply to
Surely for water heating you'd choose a solar heat exchanger rather than converting solar into electricity first?
-
Rich of Observationz, in reply to
Yes, you probably would. Although it's possible that in the future the total cost and depreciation of a solar PV system might be such that it's cheaper than the direct method.
-
Hilary Stace, in reply to
Good work
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
thanks Hilary, it feels like wading through mud
-
Coincidentally, we received a 'planned power outage' notification from Genesis this morning.
So I gave the 0800 number a ring and passed on the concerns discussed in this thread.
The usual suggestions....all of which would attract a cost to the consumer...
My suggestion was that the power company keep a stock of small, portable generators to lend to medically vulnerable clients in the event of a planned power outage. At no cost. A goodwill exercise.
The lady said that St John's would pick up a person and transport them to hospital in the event of a planned or un planned power outage....again, I would imagine there would be a cost for this. Again...perhaps the power company could pay for the ambulance. Goodwill, which they could probably claim back on their taxes.
I also passed on that there are an increasing number of medically vulnerable people living in the community. This is a cheap option for the state....cheaper than hospital. The costs, however are passed onto the individual and their families.
It would not hurt for the power companies....(SOEs) and the Ministry of Health to get together on this.
I suggested that someone from Genesis come here and read the post and the comments.
-
Moz, in reply to
Surely for water heating you'd choose a solar heat exchanger rather than converting solar into electricity first?
Sometimes. For us in Sydney it's cheaper and easier to buy extra PV than go to the hassle and expense of either a heat pump system or "simple" heat exchanger. The problem with heat exchangers is that you have to run plumbing up onto the roof and service it there, and often you need a pump too. Extra holes in the roof are never a good thing, and putting a couple of hundred kilos of water up there is not great, and pumps.... pumps are unreliable and noisy.
Purely from a cost point of view, we use about 2-3kWh/day each for hot water heating using a cheap resistive hot water tank. In Sydney there are very few days when we get less than 3kWh for each kW of panels on the roof, so we need about 1kW of PV each for hot water. With a smaller, better insulated tank I expect it would be under 2kWh each. The hot water heater is under $1000. That's a bit over $1000 each for 20 years of hot water.
Going from that cheap water heater to a heat pump one is about $2000, but it only quarters the amount of electricity required and the warranty is 10 years not 20. So we need $750 less PV per person... and there are only two of us.
If we went with evacuated tubes (heat exchangers) it's more complex, because we have to move the hot water cylinder, punch extra holes in the roof and again, the warranty is only 10 years. I'm using warranty as a measure of expected service life, so I'm mentally budgeting that we'll need to buy twice as many of them if the warranty is half as long.
One minor factor is that we can't use the extra hot water from the heat exchanger, but we can put the extra electricity back into the grid. I prefer to do that rather than waste it, even though it costs us money to do that (we pay $1/day for the grid connection and get 5c/kWh, so we need to sell 20kWh of electricity every single day just to cover the cost of the connection. Or we could buy a $10,000 battery system (about 30 years of grid connection charge) and not have the connection.
The grid question is complex because our granny flat uses the connection from the house, but if we want to feed more than 5kW of PV back into the grid we need to pay $2500 for an independent grid connection for the granny flat. So effectively the current connection is "free", but feeding power in costs money. We will probably have a 5kW inverter in the granny flat for that reason (but might still have 6kW of panels, so we get more power in the winter)
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
I suggested that someone from Genesis come here and read the post and the comments.
Good on ya Rosemary!
-
Angela Hart, in reply to
Surely for water heating you’d choose a solar heat exchanger rather than converting solar into electricity first?
We have a panel type heat exchanger on the roof. We didn't need to move the cylinder and the pump is small and silent. Since we installed it several years ago there has been a huge reduction in our power bills. It has been trouble free and long may that last.
-
Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
I phoned as a client, our phone number is on their database so it triggered a client specific response. I was asked 'security' questions to verify my ID...and was told we were NOT on their database of medically vulnerable. THIS...is a good system.
Well done Genesis...I am hoping this means that a call from a number keyed to a vulnerable person triggers an immediate response.
(We are not at the medically vulnerable stage...flat wheelchair batteries and an unusable medical bed not really crisis material. However...having to fill up buckets with water so we can flush the toilet, have washing water...bit of an inconvenience. We have in ground water tanks, a pump to get the water from the tanks into the house....and more importantly to the hot water cylinder.... In the winter , when the fire is lit and the water is going through the wetback....issues. A small, 'no brand' generator is on our wish list. Just enough to run the pump and keep the deep freeze running.)
-
The Be. outfit is taking a fresh approach to accessibility
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/73743062/help-make-new-zealand-more-accessibleI had no idea Tariana had a tetraplegic brother, it explains a lot, you really can't appreciate people’s experiences of disability unless you get to know them well
“For too long, the disability community in particular have been denied their right to be,” former Minister of Disability Issues Tariana Turia said. In a speech at the time Turia, whose brother was a tetraplegic, said “accessibility is all about attitude”.
-
Physical access to facilities is a major issue. A friend turned up yesterday to chew the fat (yes I've been reading the obesity thread :-) and it turned out she's been fighting for access to the local Auckland Council run pool for two years now.
Unbelievable!
A lovely person who has been dealing with someone who either has zero comprehension of the scale and impact of the problem in spite of it being pointed out to him, or who simply doesn't give a damn. We are putting our heads together because exercising in the water is what works for her and her rights are being trampled on- along with those of many others who would be using the pool if they could get in and out of it safely.
-
Seems to be topical today, here's another fresh approach to an access/egress problem which is widespread across New Zealand
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11541288 -
Rosemary McDonald, in reply to
"The Ministry of Health are only legally obligated to supply one wheelchair ramp, but the Fire Service always recommends at least two exits," Mr Knighton said.
The Miserly of Health.
I'd actually like to see that in print on an MOH document. The "legally obligated" bit.
Because...although one might be "eligible"....that doesn't necessarily mean "entitled".
http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/eligibility-publicly-funded-health-services
Being eligible gives a person a right to be considered for publicly funded health or disability services (ie, free or subsidised). It is not an entitlement to receive any particular service. Individuals need to meet certain clinical and other assessment criteria to receive many services.
Bold mine.
I have been aware for some time now that in actual fact there is no entitlement to anything under the PHDAct.
At any point, policy could change, and one could get the bill for say...having your child's rotten teeth removed under general anaesthetic when the cause of the decay has been ascertained to be putting tooth - rot in the baby's bottle.
Could be the reason that some of us try to be preventative...because we have been told already that "you're not entitled"...pay for it yourself.
Very good initiative by the Waiarapa students. -
Angela Hart, in reply to
Because…although one might be “eligible"….that doesn’t necessarily mean “entitled”.
I started a response but I can't seem to do it without ranting, because the Ministry's refusal to accept that anyone is entitled makes me so cross. They just like to see all the begging bowls lined up. Must make them feel good.
-
the punishment is the symptom...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/73808611/corrections-cuts-community-work-supervisors-hours-as-offenders-fail-to-showCorrections is cutting Canterbury community work supervisors' weekly hours as offenders consistently fail to show up.
Their union says the move is the result of Corrections failing to make offenders comply with their sentences.
Offenders in the region turned up for community work 29 per cent of the time on average. That is below the national rate of 36 per cent, according to Corrections figures, the union said.May as well not bother sentencing them in the first place then...
These systems should mesh together, consistently from start to finish, cohesive and coherent - having a point and balance isn't too much to ask for...
...is it? -
Going back to agencies, Needs Assessment and Service Co-ordination Agencies are contracted to the Ministry of Health to assess what supports people with disabilities may need and co-ordinate the provision of those unmet needs.
We had a meeting at Taikura Trust's (our NASC) premises today, and blow me down THEY ARE NOT ACCESSIBLE.
Well, they are sort of. To gain access to the first floor, which is where Taikura Trust lives, you have to go up in a lift. The button to call the lift is low enough for a person seated in a wheelchair to push, but it doesn't bring the lift. High above, at standing height, is an intercom with a button. No sign or anything, but an intercom with a button. Push the intercom button and you come up on a screen in Taikura's reception area, and they can send the lift down to you. But if you're in a wheelchair you can't reach the button. So, the building is inaccessible unless you have help. This is a NASC. Can you believe it??????
Post your response…
This topic is closed.