Source: Radio New Zealand
Some older people are being forced to leave their communities to receive care, say advocates. File photo. Unsplash/ Ina Ramos
West Coast families are being left to manage complex health needs at home because of a shortage of aged care beds, the Aged Care Association says.
The association is calling on the government to establish a dedicated infrastructure fund to increase bed numbers and to recognise aged care as a critical component of the health system.
Chief executive Tracey Martin said there were providers ready to build and expand bed numbers but they were unable to do so because of a lack of funding support.
More than 50 aged residential care beds had been lost in the Buller district in the past decade after the withdrawal of Health New Zealand services in Reefton and Westport.
The impact was being felt across the health system and the problem was entirely fixable, Martin said.
O’Conor Home, Westport’s only aged care residence, had 20 people on its waiting list, including eight who had been assessed as requiring residential care but could not access it locally.
Ziman House, Reefton’s 12-bed aged care residence, permanently closed in 2024 – two years after it shut suddenly because of unsustainable staffing levels.
Martin said with no beds available, older people remained in hospital unnecessarily or were forced to leave their communities to receive care.
Recently an older person nearing the end of their life spent more than a month in a West Coast hospital assessment, support and rehabilitation unit because no aged care bed was available and they could not return home.
“This is what happens when aged care is not recognised as health care,” Martin said.
“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 extended beyond individual families and placed additional pressure on already stretched hospital and emergency services, she said.
West Coast had one of the oldest populations in the country with more than a quarter of residents aged over 65 – almost double the national average.
Beds would not be built and hospitals would continue to carry the cost until aged care was treated as core health infrastructure and funded accordingly, Martin said.
“If aged care is health care – and it is – then it must be planned, funded and invested in as part of the health system,” she said.
“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.”
Last year Westland mayor Helen Lash told RNZ people in need of aged care support often left the West Coast because there were no facilities for them.
Radius Residential Care was granted approval in principle by Westland District Council last September for a new aged-care home and village on part of the former Hokitika racecourse site.
It will include an 80-bed care facility, 50-villa retirement village and home care services along with a rest home, hospital and specialised dementia care.
Lash said it was a win for all generations and would benefit the entire community.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
