Staffing levels in rest homes queried

A delegation from the New Zealand Nurses' Organisation and the Service and Food Workers Union spoke to the Hawke's Bay District Health Board on staffing levels. Pictured are Thomas O'Neil (left), Cressida Singh, Stephanie Thomas, Leigh Maaka and Annette Burgan. Photo/Glenn Taylor

Short-staffed rest homes are a form of elder abuse, says president of Hastings and Districts Grey Power president Marie Dunningham.

In a statement handed to Hawke's Bay District Health Board's (DHB) recent monthly board meeting she said short staffing was a daily reality in most rest homes.

"Currently in some homes, staffing levels are being cut to the legal level," she said.

"This means that if any worker is unable to come to work, goes off sick or the work load is unusually heavy, the staff ratio slips from safe to unsafe.

She said there was a culture of "keeping the lid on workers' wages", despite increased funding levels.

A union delegation representing concerned workers gave her statement to the DHB.

Led by Annette Burgan, of the Service and Food Workers Union, and Cressida Singh, of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, the delegation sought a higher standard of care, better systems and better staffing in aged-care facilities.

"Carers are being compromised by being asked to do non-clinical things, like cleaning and serving food," Ms Burgan said.

"We give our concerns to management but I think they are listening and not acting. Even the residents can feel the stress when we are short staffed and ask why you can't talk. We have to rush everything."

DHB chairman Kevin Atkinson said aged-care facility funding was awarded nationally, not by the DHB.

"We all recognise that there is going to be an increasing number of people that are going to be living in these homes over the years to come as the population ages and it is important we provide a safe environment to work in," he said.

Concerned people should raise issues with management first. "The next step would be to report to the DHB. Our chief executive or myself would be happy to receive any of those complaints.

"The third and final step, if action is not taken that satisfies and solves the situation, is the Health and Disabilities Commissioner."

He said the DHB had "a number of tools" available to it.

"If we feel that the incident is significant enough, we have the ability to do spot audits of any rest homes. We can do that without notice.

"If anyone living or working in that environment feels that their safety is being compromised, we would like to hear about particular incidents so we can actually do something about it."

New Zealand Aged Care Association chief executive Martin Taylor said he was tired of hearing quality-of-care complaints with no evidence to back it up.

The Ministry of Health ensured good levels of care and staffing levels were maintained through regular audits. If a worker was sick at short notice it usually took at most a half-shift to find a replacement, he said.

Many facilities ran on "very thin margins" because of poor government funding and some smaller operators chose to operate as a lifestyle option.

The association launched a campaign this week to increase the wages of caregivers in private rest homes and aged-care facilities.

He said caregivers employed by DHBs earned $17.50 an hour, while the 30,500 employed in private rest homes earned an average $15.30 an hour.