New contracts being negotiated between the Health Ministry and aged care providers will include increased training and staffing level provisions, Associate Health Minister Ruth Dyson said today.
The contracts were expected to be finalised by June 1 and would address key issues raised in an independent report on dementia care.
"The new
contracts will improve the quality of residential care for people with dementia, with strengthened provisions for training, staffing levels, use of medication and restraint, and auditing and monitoring of facilities," Ms Dyson said in a statement.
"They will ensure national consistency of services and will specify a number of other improvements, including that a trained staff member must be on duty in every dementia unit for 24 hours a day."
The Government announced last December it was injecting an extra $12.6 million into aged residential care and further funding increases were expected later this year, Ms Dyson said.
- NZPA
