MyCare meets needs of home care sector

A groundbreaking new online service has been launched to help New Zealanders easily find the care they need to continue living comfortably and safely at home. 

MyCare, co-founded by IT entrepreneur and former national law firm partner Mark Jeffries, Carers NZ CEO Laurie Hilsgen, strategic consultant Chris Mathews, and award-winning tech specialist Robert Stewart, allows people who need care, such as older people, those recovering from illness or injury, or who are disabled, to search online for care workers who best meet their needs. 

Jeffries says the founders’ firsthand experience supporting frail loved ones revealed a gap in the market for a service that would make the process of finding and managing care workers much simpler. 

“People who are looking for home care often have it provided through an agency or service. While that is one way to get home care, it can be inflexible and disempowering for the person needing the care.”

Jeffries says that with MyCare, families can find and choose their own care workers, have more control, and more direct management of their needs. 

“Now a person needing care, or their family carer can now go online to MyCare, review worker profiles, and find a person that best suits their needs. This could be based on experience, price, location, languages or many other attributes.” 

“If they want to build a long-term relationship with their care worker they can do so directly, and if the relationship doesn’t work, they can choose someone else. If they need multiple care workers to suit a range of needs, they can find and use a rotation of workers to fulfil those needs.”

Jeffries adds that MyCare also offers a new way for workers to find rewarding jobs in the home care sector.

“Care workers can post their experience and skills online and easily edit their profile to ensure it is relevant and up to date. Just like other online sites, MyCare helps build trust and reputation with two-way feedback that can be powerful, transparent and instant.”

“Workers have the ability to negotiate their pay rates, the services they offer, and their work conditions, and potentially achieve a much higher level of job satisfaction.“

The MyCare site is already proving popular with workers and potential clients.  Since going live last December, more than 1,000 care workers from around New Zealand have created profiles, and hundreds of people needing assistance have signed up to post jobs and connect with workers. 

Jeffries is positive the MyCare model is the way of the future for New Zealand’s fast-evolving home care market. 

“Home care trends mirror social changes, largely driven by the aging population.”

“We know the number of people aged 65+ in New Zealand will double from 650,000 in 2012 to 1,200,000 in 20 years. This will dramatically boost demand for home care. Services and agencies won’t be able to expand quickly enough nor can they meet growing demand for services that are flexible in the ways today’s consumers want.”

“Our aging parents are living longer and often away from day to day family support. Staying at home is often the best place to age, and MyCare makes that easier,” say Jeffries.

The MyCare site uses sophisticated internet technology and can be used with all devices, from mobiles to tablets and desktops. 

People wishing to offer their services or view profiles of workers in their area can do so at MyCare.co.nz