A broken aged care sector is harming the elderly, according to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, following the release of damaging data.
A new research report which interviewed 80 nurses and health care assistants in the aged care sector reveals the disturbing impact on our elderly of an under-staffed and under-funded sector, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO said.
The NZNO report Care in Crisis: Manaaki i te Raru also surveyed 415 aged care workers and analysed 156 health and safety issues related to unsafe staffing. It was launched formally in Wellington in October.
NZNO Age Safe committee co-chair and health care assistant (kaiāwhina) Brianna Dynes said residents are missing out on the most basic care because there isn’t enough staff to go around.
"Nurses and kaiāwhina are constantly forced to make impossible choices about who gets help first because they are stretched so thin.Our kaumātua are being harmed by the sector designed to care for them,” said Dynes.
"Residents are suffering falls because care givers are unable to give them the support they need. They’re being put in continence products because they don’t have time to toilet them and they have infections because nurses are too busy to change their dressings and facilities are buying cheap wound products, and even cutting them in half, to save money.”
Fellow NZNO Age Safe committee co-chair Tracey Morgan said Care in Crisis: Manaaki i te Raru is irrefutable evidence of a sector in crisis.
"However, everyday nurses and kaiāwhina show that quality aged care is possible, if they are given the time and the resources they need to do their jobs properly. This report doesn’t just highlight the issues facing the sector; it provides a clear, practical plan to reset aged care and provide dignity to residents in the last years of their lives,” said Morgan.
"That includes all facilities having a 24/7 nurse on site, legislated and evidence-based care hours that providers are legally required to meet, safe staffing ratios and funding determined on the cost of delivering care. The importance of cultural care must also be properly recognised and funded so kaumātua receive care that upholds tikanga and whānau connections. It must also be able to meet the needs of our elderly from other cultural backgrounds."
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