Physiotherapy caseloads for children receiving ORS funding
Sally Kidd made this Official Information request to Ministry of Education
This request has an unknown status. We're waiting for Sally Kidd to read recent responses and update the status.
      From: Sally Kidd
      
    
    Dear Ministry of Education,
Could you please provide the number of children with ORS funding on each Physiotherapists caseload who are eligible for therapy support? Could the region and number of schools in each physiotherapist's contracted area also please be supplied.
Yours faithfully,
Sally Kidd
        From: Enquiries National
        Ministry of Education
      
    
    Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o Thank you for your email to the
te Mātauranga.   Ministry of Education.  
     
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua This is an auto generated response
tae mai tō īmēra confirming your email has been
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei received. Please do not respond to this
karere.   message.  
     
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki We will respond to your email as soon
tō īmēra.   as possible.  
 
  
show quoted sections
        From: Enquiries National
        Ministry of Education
      
    
    Kia ora Sally
 
Thank you for your request for information below. The Ministry will
 consider and respond to your request in accordance with the Official
 Information Act 1982 (the Act).
 
Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of
 our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any
 case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is
 received.  You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your
 request on or before the 20 May 2024.  If more than 20 working days are
 needed due to the potential workload and/or consultations involved in
 answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.
 
The Ministry may publicly release on our website the response to your
 request five days after you have received it. Any personal information
 will be removed.
 
In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email
 [1][email address].
 
Ngā mihi
 
Enquiries National Team | Ministry of Education - TW
 [2]education.govt.nz  |  [3]Follow us on Twitter: @educationgovtnz
[4]Te TD huhu o te MD tauranga
 
 
 
 
show quoted sections
        From: Cindy McDonald
        Ministry of Education
      
    
    Tēnā koe Sally
 
Please find attached extension letter regarding your request under the
 Official Information Act.
  
Nāku noa, nā,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CM
[1]education.govt.nz
He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
 ōna huanga
 We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
 outcomes
 [2]Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga
 
show quoted sections
        From: Enquiries National
        Ministry of Education
      
    
    Tçnâ koe Sally,
 
Thank you for your email of 21 April 2024 to the Ministry of Education
 (the Ministry) requesting the following information:
 
 1. Could you please provide the number of children with ORS funding on
 each Physiotherapists caseload who are eligible for therapy support?
  2. Could the region and number of schools in each physiotherapist’s
 contracted area also be supplied.
 
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
 (the Act).
 
The Ministry is in the process of preparing this response for you.
 
We would like to ask if you could please clarify part one of your request,
 specifically what your definition is for therapy support.
 
Please note, the Ministry does not contract ‘therapy support’, nor do we
 hold any information related to providing therapy support.
 
If you could please refine this part of your request by close of business
 6 June 2024, that would be much appreciated.
 
Nâku noa, nâ,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CM
[1]education.govt.nz
He mea târai e mâtou te mâtauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
 ôna huanga
 We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
 outcomes
 [2]Te Tâhuhu o te Mâtauranga
 
show quoted sections
        From: Enquiries National
        Ministry of Education
      
    
    Tçnâ koe Sally
 
OIA 1327384 – Physiotherapists ORS Funding
 
Thank you for your email of 21 April 2024 to the Ministry of Education
 (the Ministry) requesting the following information:
 
 1. Could you please provide the number of children with ORS funding on
 each Physiotherapists caseload who are eligible for therapy support?
 
 2. Could the region and number of schools in each physiotherapist’s
 contracted area also please be supplied.
 
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
 (the Act).
 
With regard to question one of your request, an email was sent to you on
 30 May 2024 seeking clarification of what is meant by “therapy support”.
 As we have not received a response from you, we have been unable to find
 the information in scope of this part of your request. It remains open to
 you to submit a clarified request for this information.
 
We can advise that all ORS-funded students are eligible for physiotherapy
 support if required, and where a need is identified this is provided. We
 have been advised by the Ministry’s regional offices that physiotherapist
 caseloads fluctuate, as they provide service as and when needs are
 identified. This means that providing the number of ORS students currently
 on caseloads would not reflect the number of students who are eligible.
 
We also note that in some regions a number of children that are
 ORS-verified are in Specialist Schools. Given that these schools are
 fundholders, they employ/contract their own physiotherapists which means
 the Ministry would not hold data on this. Some fundholders also pay the
 Ministry to provide physiotherapy. As stated above, all ORS students are
 eligible for physiotherapy input if the need is identified.
 
We have interpreted question two of your request as the number of
 physiotherapists employed by the Ministry and their contracted schools in
 each region. There is no one central part of the Ministry’s national
 office that has oversight of this information. I am therefore refusing
 this part of your request under section 18(g) of the Act, as the
 information requested is not held by the Ministry and we have no grounds
 for believing that it is held by another agency subject to the Act. I can
 advise however, that we have been successful in collating some of the
 information requested from some of the Ministry’s regions and hope that
 this is helpful. Please refer to the list below, and also note that the
 total number of schools provided excludes all specialist schools and
 fundholders:
 
o Te Tai Tokerau
o One physiotherapist contractor engaged for 30 hours per week to
 cover 151 schools.
o Bay of Plenty/Waiariki
o Three Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) physiotherapists across 190
 schools.
o Hawke’s Bay/Tairawhiti
o 4.4 FTE across this region of physiotherapists and Visiting
 Neurodevelopmental Therapists (VNT) who provide specialist
 support for students verified on the Ongoing Resource Scheme.
  (Please note - VNT’s have been included as they are typically
 registered physiotherapists or occupational therapists).
o Canterbury
o Four physiotherapists working 2.6 FTE in total, supporting 275
 schools.
o Tâmaki Herenga Tângata – Auckland North and West
o Three Physiotherapists working 2.2 FTE in total across 191
 schools.
o Waikato
o Two FTE physiotherapist positions. One is vacant and being
 actively recruited for, while in the meantime they have
 contracted a physiotherapist through Cornerstone Therapy to
 support the vacancy. The two are working across 276 schools in
 total.
 
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to
 review my decision on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the
 Act. You can do this by writing to [1][email address] or to
 Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
  
Nâku noa, nâ,
Official and Parliamentary Information | Ministry of Education | CM
[2]education.govt.nz
He mea târai e mâtou te mâtauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
 ôna huanga
 We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
 outcomes
 [3]Te Tâhuhu o te Mâtauranga
 
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).




