Source: Aged Care Association
The growing shortage of aged residential care beds on the West Coast is not just a community issue – it is a health system failure, reinforcing that aged care must be treated and funded as an essential part of New Zealand’s health system.
Over the past decade, the Buller District has lost 54 aged residential care beds following the withdrawal of Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) from service provision in Reefton and Westport. This has occurred in a region with one of the oldest populations in the country, where 26.3% of residents are aged over 65 – nearly double the national average.
The impact is now being felt across the entire health system.
O’Conor Home in Westport currently has 20 people on its waiting list, including eight who have already been assessed as requiring residential care but cannot access it locally. With no beds available, older people are either remaining in hospital unnecessarily or being forced to leave their communities to receive care.
In one recent case, an older person nearing the end of their life spent over a month in a hospital Assessment, Support and Rehabilitation Unit simply because there was no aged care bed available and they could not return home.
“This is what happens when aged care is not recognised as health care,” says Aged Care Association Chief Executive Tracey Martin.
“These are people who have been clinically assessed as needing care. When there is no aged care bed available, they don’t stop needing care – they stay in hospital, or families are left to manage complex health needs at home.”
The consequences extend beyond individual families, placing additional pressure on already stretched hospital and emergency services.
Despite the clear need, providers ready to expand capacity are unable to do so due to a lack of capital funding support.
“We have providers who are shovel-ready to build and expand beds,” says Martin.
“But unless aged care is treated as core health infrastructure, and funded accordingly, those beds will not be built and hospitals will continue to carry the cost.”
The Aged Care Association is calling on the Government to establish a dedicated Aged Residential Care Infrastructure Fund, recognising aged care as a critical component of the health system.
“If aged care is health care – and it is – then it must be planned, funded, and invested in as part of the health system,” says Martin.
“Right now, we are seeing the consequences of not doing so. People are stuck in hospital beds, families are under pressure, and communities are losing the ability to care for their own.”
“This is not a future problem. It is happening now, and it is entirely fixable.”
