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 says.

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 is being launched formally in Wellington on Wednesday (15 October).

NZNO Age Safe committee co-chair and health care assistant (kaiāwhina) Brianna Dynes says 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.

"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," Brianna Dynes says.

Fellow NZNO Age Safe committee co-chair Tracey Morgan says 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.

"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," Tracey Morgan says.

Figures at a glance:

Care in Crisis: Manaaki i te Raru is based on:

• 80 in-depth interviews with nurses and health care assistants (kaiāwhina) working in the aged care sector from Kaitaia to Bluff.
• Surveys of 415 aged care nurses and kaiāwhina.
• Analysis of 156 health and safety forms related to unsafe staffing.
• 53.4% of nurses and kaiāwhina surveyed reported their shifts were understaffed often or most of the time.
• 87% strongly agreed staffing levels have affected their ability to provide high-quality care.
• 43.9% felt they didn’t have enough time to do everything required most days with just 5.8% saying they always had sufficient time.
• 39.8% reported frequently thinking about leaving the sector.
• Kaiāwhina report residents are going without showers, getting their meals late or cold and getting no help with toileting 25.2% of all shifts.

Selection of health care worker quotes:

Interview participants have been given pseudonyms to protect their identity, but all other info provided such as their role, workplace and region) is accurate.

• "The quality of care is always correlated to the time that the staff can give to them." - Laura, Clinical Nurse Manager, Enliven
• "Some days it honestly feels like a milking shed, you know, line them up, hose them down." - Tina, Kaiāwhina, Summerset, Central
• "Some residents don’t get fed at all." - Logan, Kaiāwhina, Bupa, Central
• "Underarms didn’t get washed… teeth and dentures… missed more often than not." - Ava, Kaiāwhina, Presbyterian Support Services, Te Waipounamu
• "Three out of five residents do not need incontinence products." - Rebecca, Clinical Nurse Manager, Arvida
• "We started getting really budget dressings that would disintegrate into the wound." - Sarah, Clinical Nurse Manager, Arvida
• "Sadly, I know people don’t get turned… the evidence is on the residents." - Grace, Unit Coordinator, Bupa, Te Manawa Taki
• "Recently one of our dementia-level residents swallowed a glove." - Jenna, RN, Bupa, Te Waipounamu
• "The incidence of residents having falls has increased massively…" - Jacki, Kaiāwhina, small not-for-profit, Wellington
• "Everything in te ao Māori world is missing in aged care." - V, Māori Kaiāwhina, Heritage
• "They honour that time of the resident’s life, but not the present." - Māori kaimahi
• "We’ll put ourselves second… they’re paramount." - Theresa, RN, NZ Aged Care Services
• "I feel I did my best to support them, but I feel ashamed." - Jenna, RN, Bupa, Te Waipounamu
• "We’re let down by everybody everywhere." - Bonnie, Nurse Practitioner, Oceania

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