Elderly restrained and fed badly says ministry

Residents at a Napier resthome were restrained in chairs overnight and poorly fed, a Ministry of Health investigation has revealed.

The Parkview resthome was audited in June after complaints about the standard of care.

The ministry ordered Parkview to rectify the issues and appointed a temporary manager to ensure the changes were implemented by August.

Ministry spokeswoman Carol Searle said that after a second audit last month, the ministry was happy with practices at Parkview.

The June audit was made after allegations that senior staff had been seen hitting and pushing residents, and that hygiene, food and safety practices were substandard.

The audit, obtained under the Official Information Act, confirmed some of those claims.

It found that a "significant" number of residents were confined in "geriatric chairs" - some all night - without the consent of relatives or a medical practitioner, and were not monitored.

Food safety requirements had not been met and food servings were inadequate and not nutritious, the audit found.

Medication was also being administered in an unsafe manner.

The audit cited medication charts that were not signed by a medical practitioner, medication that was missing and could not be accounted for, medication found on the floor and trays of medication that were not labelled.

Residents were spoken to in a way that did not promote dignity and self-respect, and allegations of physical abuse "were not refuted", the audit found.

Residents were woken at 5.30 am to be showered, toilets lacked privacy and staff did not receive specific training in the needs of dementia patients.

Staff also did not have current first-aid certificates.

The audit also found that complaints were not documented and not reviewed within the times stipulated by the Health and Disability Commissioner.

A new cook had since been appointed, and concerns over food servings and food safety had been addressed.

New staff training had been introduced and new protocols for restraining patients had been approved.

Residents were no longer showered so early.

A new manager had also been appointed.

Auditors still found deficiencies with the way medication was dispensed.

Mrs Searle said she expected that Parkview would meet all the ministry's requirements by the end of this month.

It would be audited again next month.

- NZPA