Smaller, community-based rest-homes need greater support from the government funding model, the Minister for Senior Citizens Casey Costello says.
The minister was in Dunedin yesterday to visit Queen Rose Retirement Home, which won the Aged Care Association’s supreme award for services to aged care earlier this year.
Ms Costello said the award was testament to what a facility with limited resources could achieve compared with some of the bigger players in the industry.
"There’s a lot of different types of homes and there’s not many that are privately owned, smaller homes.
"There’s a real challenge with the funding model, because smaller homes operate on volume to make it viable."
Ms Costello said there was a review of the funding model for aged care, as the present system did not meet the varying needs of the ageing population.
"It’s broadly recognised that the model was no longer fit for purpose. There isn’t the variability.
"So the review is looking at what the funding model should look like, how we can be sustainable— not just residential care but in community and home care."
Ms Costello said the fact Queen Rose Retirement Home did not offer premium room rates could have made it difficult to retain staff and further invest in the facilities.
Other challenges included the location and nature of aged care, she said.
"We talk a lot about ageing in place and people kind of take that to be ageing in your home.
"But ageing in place also means being able to stay in the community you know, in the area you know, close to where your family are.
"So you’re not having to move out of town. So that’s why these sort of homes [like Queen Rose] are so important."
The review would also look at ways to improve the transition from hospital to home among the aged population.
Queen Rose Retirement Home owner Andrea De Leon bought the home after working for more than 11 years as a nurse and then manager.
She hoped the government review of the aged care sector would produce some favourable outcomes.
"We would like to look into how we can deliver services differently if Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s focus is on keeping people at home."
