Beneath the resthome marketing

Don't be fooled by the glossy marketing brochures or the expensive interior decor.

The bottom line in elderly care in New Zealand is that it is almost entirely owned by large companies who are making a killing out of building and running ghettoes for the elderly; they may well be luxurious ghettoes ...but they are still places where the elderly live in sometimes splendid, but more often sad, isolation from the communities in which they once lived...

Of the country's 750 or so rest homes, more than 200 have no collective employment agreements, which can offer some protection to both staff and residents...

Ask what's the registered nurse to caregiver ratio, and the caregiver to resident ratio in the resthome and hospital; ask what's the hourly rate for caregivers, cleaners and cooks; ask if the managers-owners encourage union involvement in the facility; ask how often physiotherapy is provided and if it is by qualified physiotherapists. It is those sorts of measures that will give a true indication of the quality of care, not the flash gardens, the stunning water features, the plushly carpeted public areas or the shareholder returns.

> SOURCE Teresa Cowie in the Nelson Mail  8 July 2009