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Prioritisation Guideline and Q&As

Find the Equipment and Modification Services (EMS) Prioritisation Guideline, the Priority One rating form, and questions and answers.

Prioritisation Guideline

Download the Prioritisation Guideline document (DOCX 377KB) or view the Prioritisation Guideline webpage version.

Download the EMS prioritisation and portal update - April 2024 (DOCX 95KB)

Priority One rating form

Download the EMS Priority One rating form (DOCX 73KB)

Guidelines for completing the Priority One rating form

  • Please confirm which indicator the person meets and provide further explanation in the rationale and comments section (more than one indicator can be used).
  • The evidence provided must be related to this specific funding request and is not a generalisation of the person's needs or disability status.
  • The EMS assessor should ensure that all other strategies have been considered or implemented in the first instance.

More information and useful links

Questions and answers

We have compiled the following questions and answers to help you navigate the Prioritisation Guideline and EMS changes. We will be updating these Q&As and adding more content as necessary.

Who will be doing the P1/P2 quality check?

Services will need to nominate a clinical leader to review P1 EMS requests or use the portal online reporting tool to monitor P1/P2 ratios.  Please discuss this with your service leader or manager.

Please also see the Guideline for Prioritisation for more detail. The name of this person will be written on your P1 form when you upload it with your service request application to Enable New Zealand or Accessable.

How is the P1/P2 quality check managed for sole assessors, for example, assessors working privately?

Assessors working in remote areas or alone can use either the clinical leader review option (for example, through a supervision process) or they can monitor their own P1/P2s against the national averages. Please contact Whaikaha if you require the latter option.

How do I allocate a priority? I feel like they are all high priority?

The intention of prioritisation is to identify urgency and risk, so we can continue supporting people with the highest need to access equipment and modifications solutions, within the current constrained fiscal context. Assessment needs to be based on clinical need related to the Priority One indicators and in context of the person's available supports.

Can we access re-issue equipment in the store warehouse?

The EMS advisory services are working hard to support re-issue of equipment from the stores. To support this, please ensure you tick the "or similar" box with your request.

How do we manage equipment beyond economic repair with a 'like for like' replacement (any band or non-band item) and accessories?

Equipment that is currently used by an individual and continues to meet their needs, though deemed beyond economic repair by Enable or Accessable contractors and requiring a ‘like for like’ replacement, is considered priority one and does not require entry via the EMS portal.

Any band 2-3 service requests, following reassessment resulting in an alternate or new solution, require prioritisation, including accessories over $1k.   

All band 1 equipment and accessories under $1k continues as per usual process (i.e. EMS portal is not required).