Cutting rest home care and home support will leave elderly vulnerable - sector

• Health NZ directed to cut 200,000 "hospital bed nights a year to save money
• Aged care sector "left out" of planning
• Proposals to cut home support for elderly
• 60 percent of future retirees without a home to sell or private pension will not be able to afford residential care
• Red tape preventing flexible models of care, says Aged Care Association

The Aged Care Association is warning that plans to cut 200,000 hospital bed nights a year to save money could be disastrous for elderly people without the means to pay for private care.

Chief Executive Tracey Martin told Nine to Noon major corporate providers were already moving away from provision of rest home beds and adjusting their business models ahead of impending changes.

Fewer than 40 percent of retirees would have the financial resources to buy into a retirement village and get continuity of care, she said.

"It's the 60 percent-plus who cannot afford to buy into those facilities, it's those who [are] providing for them, who are causing us the most concern."

More rural communities were at risk of losing rest homes due to funding shortfalls and regulatory settings, she said.

"Of 205 provincial and rural providers, 110 are at extreme risk and the rest are vulnerable.

"And we are highly concerned about the direction of travel at Te Whatu Ora at the moment, which we believe is writing a Cabinet paper that is going to make it harder to get into residential care while at the same time removing some of the home and community supports to save money."

That paper was believed to be going before Cabinet in October, she said.

"Health New Zealand has been instructed by Health Minister Shane Reti to save 200,000 hospital bed nights a year and to do that, they need people to stay out of hospital and residential care."

The aged care sector had been asking to be part of the co-design so it could help provide "workable and sustainable solutions for those who needed care", but they were being shut out, Martin continued.

"It's all being designed away from the sector, we don't have the full picture of what they're putting forward."

Currently, only 28 percent of over-85-year-olds came into residential care, of whom nearly 90 percent were suffering some sort of cognitive decline, such as dementia, or were physically frail.

If rest home level care was completely scrapped and seniors were expected to stay at home for longer, an extra 8000 care and support workers would be needed, Martin said.

However, there was also a proposal to cut "lower level" in-home support, such as for those who were unsteady on their feet and needed help with food preparation, shopping and housework.

"I have grave concerns. If they are going to lift the barrier to access care and raise it to hospital level care and keep people at home, that's well and good - but only as long as the home and community sector is supported to provide care for those individuals who are not able to access residential care."

Health NZ has previously estimated the country would be short 12,000 beds within the next six years under the current model of care," but that was before the Big Six [corporate providers] began to retract", she said.

Smaller providers, including not-for-profit organisations, were struggling to comply with the red tape involved and there appeared to be "a lack of will" at government level to work with them on solutions for their communities, Martin said.

The "highly medicalised" model was putting up barriers for regional providers, who struggled to attract and retain registered nurses.

The East Coast town of Wairoa had no aged care beds since Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed its last rest home, leaving 50 whānau caring for frail relatives at home.

"Te Whatu Ora is pursuing perfection over practical delivery of care for our elders, who are being placed at extreme risk due to being left at home."

Health NZ has been approached for comment.