The elderly deserve better, each year we have to fight just to get them an inflation adjustment, and this year the government agencies who should be acting responsibly i.e.,DHBs, are not. They have skimmed $4.5 million dollars for their own costs, instead of passing it on to the elderly. This has to stop, the elderly need assurance that the funding for their care is automatically tied to inflation otherwise their quality of life will just be eroded.
Martin Taylor
CEO
HealthCare Providers NZ
16 comments:
Hugely effective ad in the Sunday Herald. As a young male, I feel ashamed and cowardly when I read of this happening in our country. I'm part of a generation that has been spoon-fed by a government we still moan about regardless, that leaves elderly who have fought for our standard of living essentially, and lived with the memories garnered doing so their entire lives, behind and struggling financially. What a joke. I've never been so embarrassed by New Zealand. There's no responsibility left, just excuses.
I have to agree that the DHB are not being responsible with the care for the older person in NZ, the contracts that are currently being used are not stringent enough with to many loop holes and and to longer time frames for the owners to fix things,the debt servicing on some of these properties are huge so it is no wonder the elderly have to go with out.I have been very involved with the care for the elderly for 20 yrs, right up to management positions, but this year through frustration and no faith in the powers the powers thatbe and the type of people buyer care facilities I resigned and am now a very strong verbal advocate for the elderly.
My mother is in a care facility and she and others there are not happy with the care they get all of the time. Call bells are not answered on time and the staffing levels are too low. It is sad to see all these unhappy old people. Also the facility tried to rip mum off when the dhb put the rates up they tried to put mum's contribution up also and they had no right to do this. I fought for mum and won - so families beware of this trend.
I think maybe we should look at the profit margins being made by private rest home owners rather than pointing the finger at DHB's.
Are rest home owners reinvesting in their business to train care-givers, hire good quality staff, upgrading facilities to properly care for the vulnerable elderly?
We should stop blaming the DHB's and look at the reinvestment private rest home owners are putting back in to their business. Are they providing good training and wages to care-givers and nursing staff in order to care for the very vulnerable elderly in their care, or are they only concerned with their nett profits.
I think the DHB's generally do a good job supporting the elderly. It is the lack of reinvestment by rest home owners in their staff and facilities that let down the very vulnerable elderly. Some of these people, in particular those needing a high level of care cannot speak for themselves. Care-givers and Nurses in these facilities are low paid, understaffed and not valued enough.
What profit margins?
Most rest home owners are making very little profit.
Fee rates have increased by such a small amount over the past few years, and like every one else rest homes have to cope with increases in food costs, fuel & power increases as well as increases in all the consumables that rest homes have to provide such as incontinence products, medical supplies and equipment, as well as the compliance costs. The privately owned homes would have a mortgage and those rates have also gone up, where is the return on equity to encourage anyone to provide this service? A crisis is looming, smaller homes are being forced out of business and the homes become part of the large multi national groups,leaving little choice about where an older person can choose to make their home.
As a manager of a small Rest Home/Hospital I agree with what anon has said about the very little profit margin being made by most Rest homes. Compliance costs are a huge issue. All Rest homes/hospitals now have to be certified and audited by independent auditors at a cost to themselves. There is a huge emphasis on staff training which most homes are committed to provide. We want to have the best trained people caring for our Residents. The owners of the facility that I work for are committed to passing any meager(less than the cost of living increase) increases they receive onto their staff.
I am the amanager of a Trust Aged ResidentialCare Facility. We provide rest home, hospital, respite and day care services. It seems to me that everyone, politicians, DHB's Ministry of Health, relatives, residents and staff are missing the point. Ask yourself, where can you find a motel/hotel for the night for $103.75? Then ask yourself if it will include 24 hour Registered Nurse care, Health care Assistants, personal hygiene and activities of daily living met, laundry, early morning tea, breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, evening meal, supper, your evening shower, continence products, medications, Dr visits, etc, etc, tuck up in bed and kiss goodnight? On top of that we provide a very good standard of education for our employees, we manage the redcruitment issues that relate to low paid workers, which are high staff attrition. Our workloads are increasing all of the time and when things go wrong we are evil personified. The general public at large needs to understand that the majority of providers of aged care do a very good job with the resources that are available to them. It seems to me that we are being set up to fail. The Government, Ministry of Health and District Health Boards are all aware of the problems, they are not new. Indeed they were exacerbated by the NZNO Meca when the wage increases for Registered Nurses working for DHB's were increased s9o significantly that we have been unable to compete for staff. That say's a great deal about how much the politcians care about older people. It seems that the general publics perception of 'Fat Cat' aged care providers is encouraged. DHB's and the Ministry need to support their providers. We need to be working together in partnership to achieve a common goal, better standards for all aged care providers. However, if you pay peanuts you should not exp[ect a roll'sroyce service. We try very hard and we think that we do provide a good service but there is much more that could be achieved.
Profits? Regrettably not. Huge profits? Definitely not. Even the charitable trusts (such as the residential care facility which I manage) cannot break even, much less make profit. We plough ALL our revenue into staffing and the facility which is owned by the COMMUNITY we serve.
Yet, the continued drag on funding, and the impossibility of getting staffing in the rural areas (much less competing with the high wages that the DHB pay; and the now extortionist prices that the agencies are charging for both skilled and unskilled workers) is crippling the industry.
I have watched with sadness as my colleagues in the aged care sector have burnt out and left for greener pastures. A Resthome manager can only work 80 hours a week for so long, before they give up, disheartened and disillusioned.
The writing is on the wall...unless the DHB wake up and smell the roses before it is too late, they will not have the buildings, much less the human resources, to provide care for the elderly in the forseeable future.
The central issue is how we treat our elderly, all of whom deserve our care and compassion, whether or not they served overseas. Yes, war veterans hold a special place in our hearts and are to be saluted and cherished for their sacrifice. But the key focus is the "golden rule": Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We need to cast our minds into the future when we are 70, 80- or 90 and ask ourselves, how would we want the future younger generations to treat us. I damned sure it would not be as Bill in the Sunday Start times ad is being treated. We owe a debt of gratitude to our older folk who have worked and contributed taxes for 40-50 years, who have given us life and nurtured us, who laid the foundations for a just society – they and their forbears struggled for a 40-hour week and the right to form unions, they laid down the foundations of democracy, they laid down the fundamental laws which determine how we should act. Those who are infirm and require specialised care deserve our compasssion even more and their care must be indexed to inflation and adequate for Rest Homes to look after them.
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Most of the work in resthomes is provided by caregivers who don't necessarly have any qualifications. $12.55 an hour is not a respectful wage for those that care for our elderly to be paid. When I see the way the caregivers care for my father (stage 3 dementia care) I am amazed that they don't get paid $1000 per hr.... I don't think I could do they job they do.
To those that believe there are super profits being made by resthomes, forget it. Reality is that the returns made do not justify building a home, that's why nobody is building. We will not get reinvestment while returns are so poor. The quality will not improve and the situation will become more difficult for us all, especially when the DHB's provide wage increases to their staff but do not provide for the same increases to Resthomes and Private Hospitals. The Minister's own staff have told him this fact but he fails to act.
The reality is that within two years, unless changes are made, there will not be enough beds to accomodate the people that need care. We already have full public hospitals this situation will only get worse under the current regime.
NZ people need to decide who is going to provide some real leadership in the health sector as there is no and has not been any for a number of years. Whoever reads this, is progressivley moving in the direction of becoming a customer of the industry. If you do not act now to change the way the industry develops what you will be faced with when you and/or your family need care is certain to be rather grim.
Hi I'm Kay Murray co leader of the Alliance Party. I notice we are not included in your list of political parties to address questions to. I would just like people to know that I am ready willing and able to answer questions on healthcare in NZ, if totally free healthcare for all New Zealanders, and adequate funding for all age care and disability services to provide the trained well paid staff in sufficient numbers, and the resources they need, to provide quality care and support, are things that interest anybody. Yes it can be afforded through a ringfenced portion of the tax take being apportioned to a dedicated health levy, and the political will to make health a priority rather than for example yacht races, rugby tournaments, and development costs to big businesses who promptly relocate offshore once they have 'developed' their business.
...I am a Physiotherapist and I've worked extensively in rest homes. I know that all the homes I've worked in have a genuine affection for the elderly and do their utmost for their comfort and dignity. I'll vote for the party that promises to reduce the health bureauracy, thereby reducing compliance costs and thereby making more resources available for elderly care. Thanks by the way for placing these ads. What a disgrace that Stalinist legislation prevents free speech ! Another gross insult to the sacrifice made by the elderly in their youth...
I have seen your billboards and am glad I can to your website to be more informed about these issues. My grandmother spent her last years in an aged care home and was treated with dignity, respect and affection by the staff. Personally I think the staff were absolute angels and were certainly not in the job to make their fortunes.
After reading some of the political responses to your letters and sifting through the political "yes I support you, give me your vote and then we'll see what we can do" type jargon, it seems to me that the only party that is and has actually committed to elder care is NZ First. Again I thank you for opening my eyes to some wider issues and I will certainly think more arefully about how I spend my votes this election.
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