"Have you people got something against the elderly in the community?"
Access to rest homes in Otago and Southland may be made tougher in an effort to cut costs…
Radio
The DHB's report says people referred to rest homes should be stood down for 6 months and then only able to access residential care if they can't be supported at home.
SP - "Have you people got something against the elderly in the community?"
DC - "We've got more people in resthomes [about 20 – 28% more allegedly] ..than other DHBs …we're obviously not doing enough…
SP - "You're just going to make it harder to get in…
DC - "We're going to provide more options to stay at home…
SP - "More options to stay at home? Last week you were cutting funding house cleaning…
DC - "... we're cutting it at lower-end need...
SP - "What does it mean – simply that they live in dirtier houses?
DC -"I'm not sure. They will have a number of other options: Doing [support] themselves, family, other supports the community can put in place ... Otago/Southland are spending more than their fair share [on the population-based funding formula]
SP - "So the answer is to cut services to the elderly?
DC - "The answer is multi-faceted...
SP - "But restricting access to residential care … while cutting services … that allow people to comfortably and with some dignity stay in their own homes … is working against itself.
DC -"[our aim is the] number in rest homes staying constant or trending down. [despite the increasing senior population – Ed]
— Radio New Zealand Morning Report 3 March 2010
>DOWNLOAD the full interview [MP3 file, 6 minutes duration]
Printer-friendly version