Couple suffer as policy reviewed
Glenda Lovatt and husband Grant, a motor neurone sufferer, may have to sell home
Aman dying of motor neurone disease and his wife who provides him with fulltime care are having to sell their house and leave family in Auckland in order to survive.
West Auckland couple Glenda and Grant Lovatt told their story of struggle last month; now they say they are at “breaking point”. Unable to work, they receive just over $500 a week of government funding and have been relying on donations from strangers and food parcels for two years.
Since the Herald published their story, the Ministry of Social Development has provided further assistance for car repairs, food and doctors’ fees. But while Glenda acknowledges the short-term gain, their situation has only worsened due to spouses not being paid for providing fulltime care to disabled partners.
“We are seriously looking at selling our house to be able to survive and to get a disability vehicle so that Grant can go out because he hasn’t been out of the house for two and a half years — he’s basically housebound.”
Grant Lovatt, 58, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2012. In 2014 a neurologist gave him less than 12 months to live but he continues to battle through.
Glenda said the Government’s policy wouldn’t pay a spouse a living wage to look after a partner but they would pay for him to go into a rest home, at more than $1500 a week.
Group manager of Disability Support Services for the Ministry of
HWatch the video at nzherald.co.nz Health, Toni Atkinson, said a person in a residential service cost the ministry on average $80,000 a year.
“However, funding is based on an individual’s needs and can range from $23,000 to $500,000,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson also confirmed spouses were still not eligible to be paid for providing fulltime care to disabled partners under the ministry’s Funded Family Care policy. Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter has previously described the policy as “one of the worst human rights violations of the previous Government”.
Genter yesterday said: “Obviously I am unhappy with people not getting access to the support they need, and am pushing for change as soon as possible.”
The Herald asked Genter for the timeframe they were working towards to change the policy and received this response:
“We need a solution that’s durable and fair for families with complex needs, and unfortunately that is taking time.”
For the Lovatts, selling their home would mean moving out of Auckland, and far away from all family and support systems.