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The pitiful state of care for the elderly has been placed under a spotlight following an investigation by the Green and Labour Parties, with the assistance of Grey Power, into the condition of rest homes and home support services in New Zealand.
The outcome of the investigation is the subject of the just released Report into Aged Care—What does the future hold for older New Zealanders?, which is based on 450 submissions and has 14 recommendations.
Extensive feedback and submissions clearly paint an industry that is “unregulated, desperately short-staffed, sector driven in many areas more by cost cutting, and the pursuit of profit, than best care practices,” says the report.
“... we have heard many shocking stories of neglect and abuse of residents suffering from chronic dehydration or malnutrition, being left in bed for entire weekends, because there are no staff to tend to them properly,” Sue Kedgley, Green Party spokesperson for Aged Care said at the launch of the Report.
A shortage of qualified nursing staff has meant that caregivers and health care assistants have been left to carry out 90 percent of the aged care in rest homes. Home based services and rest homes have no minimum training or qualification requirements for caregivers and many, says the report, have come straight off the street totally unqualified for this type of work.
“We were told that workloads are so high that they often result in high stress levels, burn out rates, and mistakes,” said Ms Kedgley.
Moreover, caregivers are among the most poorly paid of all workers in the country.
As one caregiver wrote in a submission, “In terms of quality in aged care, you get what you pay for. If wages are grossly low, then the care will be of that quality.”
Deregulation has seen huge changes in the industry over the last 10 years. Predominantly overseas owned companies have taken over 75 percent of aged care facilities, which had previously been run by small concerns or non-profit welfare or religious organisations, Ms Kedgley told an Aged Care group in Wellington earlier this year.
The report believes that under private sector ownership there is a potential for a conflict of interest. “A culture of care cannot survive in that kind of environment,” underlined a registered nurse in her submission to the report.
Also seen as a pivotal to improving rest and private home care is the establishment of an Aged Care Commissioner and the development of a national aged care strategy.
With around 45,000 residents in 715 rest homes in New Zealand, the investigative group was “amazed” that there did not exist an agency that was charged with maintaining the safety and well-being of the elderly in care, said Ms Kedgley.
“The reality is, that unless we address the issues we have raised in this report, the sector will lurch from crisis to crisis, with one scandal after another,” says Ms Kedgley.
But Tony Ryall, Minister of Health, says there is no need for an Age Care Commissioner. He points out that the previous Labour Government had rejected the suggestion twice.
Spot auditing and the auditing of auditors, introduced by the National Government over the last two years, aimed at improving standards in rest homes, he said in an interview with RadioNZ.
“We put an extra $88m dollars into subsidies, including a big dollop into improving nursing quality and supervision. We have got a lot of work underway to make sure that training is improved.”
Key Recommendations of the Report on Age Care:
The outcome of the investigation is the subject of the just released Report into Aged Care—What does the future hold for older New Zealanders?, which is based on 450 submissions and has 14 recommendations.
Extensive feedback and submissions clearly paint an industry that is “unregulated, desperately short-staffed, sector driven in many areas more by cost cutting, and the pursuit of profit, than best care practices,” says the report.
“... we have heard many shocking stories of neglect and abuse of residents suffering from chronic dehydration or malnutrition, being left in bed for entire weekends, because there are no staff to tend to them properly,” Sue Kedgley, Green Party spokesperson for Aged Care said at the launch of the Report.
A shortage of qualified nursing staff has meant that caregivers and health care assistants have been left to carry out 90 percent of the aged care in rest homes. Home based services and rest homes have no minimum training or qualification requirements for caregivers and many, says the report, have come straight off the street totally unqualified for this type of work.
“We were told that workloads are so high that they often result in high stress levels, burn out rates, and mistakes,” said Ms Kedgley.
Moreover, caregivers are among the most poorly paid of all workers in the country.
As one caregiver wrote in a submission, “In terms of quality in aged care, you get what you pay for. If wages are grossly low, then the care will be of that quality.”
Deregulation has seen huge changes in the industry over the last 10 years. Predominantly overseas owned companies have taken over 75 percent of aged care facilities, which had previously been run by small concerns or non-profit welfare or religious organisations, Ms Kedgley told an Aged Care group in Wellington earlier this year.
The report believes that under private sector ownership there is a potential for a conflict of interest. “A culture of care cannot survive in that kind of environment,” underlined a registered nurse in her submission to the report.
Also seen as a pivotal to improving rest and private home care is the establishment of an Aged Care Commissioner and the development of a national aged care strategy.
With around 45,000 residents in 715 rest homes in New Zealand, the investigative group was “amazed” that there did not exist an agency that was charged with maintaining the safety and well-being of the elderly in care, said Ms Kedgley.
“The reality is, that unless we address the issues we have raised in this report, the sector will lurch from crisis to crisis, with one scandal after another,” says Ms Kedgley.
But Tony Ryall, Minister of Health, says there is no need for an Age Care Commissioner. He points out that the previous Labour Government had rejected the suggestion twice.
Spot auditing and the auditing of auditors, introduced by the National Government over the last two years, aimed at improving standards in rest homes, he said in an interview with RadioNZ.
“We put an extra $88m dollars into subsidies, including a big dollop into improving nursing quality and supervision. We have got a lot of work underway to make sure that training is improved.”
Key Recommendations of the Report on Age Care:
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