Caregivers in tears before their shifts start

Friday, 4 August 2023

Some days, Southland caregivers are working on a ratio of two staff members to 27 residents or four to 26 hospital-level care seniors.

Some days they can’t muster the staff to even achieve this ratio.

Caregivers are bursting into tears before they even start working because they’ve realised they’re facing yet another short-staffed shift.

And they feel too guilty to take time off when they’re injured or sick because they’re worried about how their shifts will be covered.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) recently gathered these comments as part of round table discussions.

A group of Southland caregivers who spoke to Stuff anonymously – to protect their jobs – said: “The expectations [from families] are beyond what we can deliver when we’re short-staffed.”

Some of the group had been doing the job for 20 years and said residents were being kept at home longer and coming into aged care more unwell than those before them.

“Most of the people who come through the door have a level of dementia. One in 10 don’t,” one caregiver said.

And with only one unit for physically violent dementia patients in the region, caregivers were often physically and verbally abused during their shifts, they said, sometimes while trying to protect other residents.

The situation was putting extra pressure on the already short-staffed registered nurse workforce because they were having to help with caregiver duties, the group said.

They’re calling for government-mandated staff to resident ratios to keep them safe.

There have been no guidelines since 2004 when the Old People’s Homes Regulations 1987 and the Hospitals Regulations 1993 were revoked.

New Zealand Aged Care Association interim chief executive Katherine Rich said trying to maintain safe staffing levels was why 969 beds had been closed around the country.

Last week, Rich hit out at Government, calling Te Whatu Ora unconscionable for doing nothing to prepare for the tsunami of need it knew was coming.

'Heartbreaking stories of pressure and anxiety are symptomatic of the crisis in aged care because of underfunding.'

Recruitment was tough because pay parity for nurses hadn’t extended to aged care and pay parity for nurses had been delayed, Rich said, calling funding agreements “pathetic.”

“Trying to attract caregivers and nurses is hard when providers are on the back foot.”

She expected to see more aged care beds close in their future.

NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter said the union supported members in their bargaining for wages and conditions and provided other forms of workplace support as needed, but its prime focus was pay parity.

Those working for hospitals were being paid significantly more, he said.

“This often means aged care workers make the move for better pay. You can’t blame them for that, but it does make safe staffing and difficult working conditions a real problem in aged care.”

Rich commended the caregivers who spoke out, encouraging anyone with a story about aged care to share it.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Minister for seniors Ginny Andersen said she was aware of the issues the sector was facing and was in contact with sector representatives like the Aged Care Commissioner.

“I am also consulting regularly with my ministerial colleagues across portfolios to ensure the needs of older people are considered,” she said.

Te Whatu Ora’s review of aged care support services was expected to be completed later this year, Andersen said.

Speaking about staff shortages in the healthcare sector with regard to aged care, National deputy leader Nicola Willis said that the party was well aware of the concerns in this sector.

Willis was in Invercargill to speak to Southlanders about their concerns as well as outline the National party’s political agendas for the upcoming elections on Friday afternoon.

“New Zealand has an ageing population and will need to see more aged care facilities and the future …

The significant shortage of aged care staff has meant that many aged care facilities have had to close …

I know that it's very frustrating for them [healthcare facilities], that Te Whatu Ora has been so focused on its own restructuring..

“If we don't have good aged care, then people end up often having to be in a hospital or not leave a hospital because there's nowhere else for them to be.

“That's not good for them, and it ends up costing the taxpayer a lot more.

“So we want to make sure the funding model there is really workable,” Willis said.

The politician stated that Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds had told her that the Invercargill Hospital had been completely overloaded.

“Her view was that the first step has to be ensuring there are enough nurses and doctors… because that shortage means that even the existing facilities aren’t able to be properly used… So that's our first priority,” Willis said.