Dr Debra Wilson said in order not to send patients away from their families to Christchurch, where there were more beds, more sedating medications were being prescribed.
These comments were made at Associate Minister of Health Matt Doocey’s Rural Roadshow open health forum held in Gore on Tuesday.
Dr Wilson also said because these patients were being kept in lower-level wards, staff and other residents were at risk.
"It’s so distressing for everyone," she said.
A person who works in the aged-care sector, who did not want to be named, said she had seen these high-risk patients assault their carers over a period of up to six months.
"It concerns me going into dangerous situations," she said.
Dr Wilson used the phrase D6 beds, referring to those with dementia who need specialist psycho-geriatric hospital care.
D3 beds refer to rest-home level dementia care.
"The lack of D6 beds means that families don’t want their loved ones going to Christchurch, so we’re over-sedating them, keeping them local."
In an email later explaining her statements, Dr Wilson said Gore had no D6 beds and there was a limited number in Invercargill and Dunedin with long wait times.
To get patients down to a lower level of care, health professionals were relying more on anti-psychotic medication, which was not ideal as those medications could be sedating and lead to falls, she said.
Her understanding was that there was a shortage of psycho-geriatricians in the South, and Gore relied on a visiting clinician from Christchurch, who was "excellent" but very stretched.
D6 level care has higher staffing levels to help manage problematic behaviours in dementia.
Dr Wilson said the background to this was inadequate funding for aged-care facilities.
"These facilities are forced to try and operate on lower levels of staff and having less nurses on duty."
This put pressure on nurses and carers in the sector.
"They are just expected to provide the same level of care with less staff on duty."
Given Gore’s ageing population, this was an area that required more funding and staff, Dr Wilson said.
"It is also an area that does not get a lot of political voice."
