Comment from Dr Dwayne Crombie, CEO of Bupa Care Services:
 
"The process by the MidCentral DHB to close the Rose A Lea Rest Home appears to be hasty and reactive and very much a witch hunt. No-one condones poor or inadequate care, especially to the most vulnerable members of our community.
 
"The DHB response to poor care in the rest home was almost immediate closure. There doesn’t appear to have been any reasonable attempt to give the rest home a chance to rectify the problems and work up to a standard of care that was acceptable. This is despite the rest home achieving certification earlier this year and having received a health award from the MidCentral DHB four years ago.  DHBs are the dominant funders of aged care. They effectively determine the level of staffing and support in the industry through their contracts so they cannot wash their hands of any responsibility. 
 
"This style of approach to a problem in healthcare appears to be a huge display of double standards. There are numerous instances of very poor care that come to light, many of them within DHB-owned institutions such as public hospitals, mental health services and community care. One only has to read the annual sentinel events report of the many deaths arising in the public hospital system each year to confirm this. Seldom does the public see much in the way of definitive action.
 
"The aged care industry is happy to strive for good standards of care across the board, however we would expect a consistent and fair approach with that used for all other healthcare providers." 
 
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