Miranda Smith Homecare sets up in Bay of Plenty

Miranda Smith Homecare is now able to offer its care services in the Bay of Plenty region following the establishment of an area manager in Tauranga. The Bay of Plenty is a popular destination for people seeking a lifestyle change and as a place to retire. In many cases elderly have moved from other regions and left behind some of their support networks, and Miranda Smith Homecare lends its services towards picking up some of those support requirements. Bay of Plenty area manager Jacinta Gray says the agency has done a recruitment drive locally and signed up a cross section of quality carers who are ready and willing to provide clients with the care and support they need. In all the regions where Miranda Smith Homecare has a presence there is a growing need for palliative care as the population ages and increases the number of people choosing to receive palliative care in their own homes. The agency is specialising in this type of care and works collaboratively with multi-disciplinary healthcare teams to in order to carry out a level of service that allows elderly to remain at home when it would otherwise not be possible. Miranda Smith Homecare has built a reputation for quality of service and attention to detail, and aims to maintain this in the Bay of Plenty region for years to come.

Aged Care Pledge Needs Better Target, Says Care Agency

(From Scoop Media) Thursday, 21 August 2014, 9:55 am Press Release: Miranda Smith Homecare Aged Care Pledge Needs Better Target, Says Care Agency Labour’s pledge to set up an aged care working group to address industry concerns is good to see, but appears to skirt the obvious issue of a looming lack of beds and carers for our rapidly growing elderly population, says homecare agency Miranda Smith Homecare. The Labour Party yesterday announced that, if elected, it would set up an aged care working group within 100 days in office. Better pay for caregivers, “continuum of care” plans from home to palliative care, minimum rest home staffing levels, minimum qualification standards and consistent national elder abuse and neglect prevention services were some of its goals. Miranda Smith Homecare managing director Miranda Smith says with our rapidly ageing population, the aim of any working group should be simply to figure out how to respond to the growing need for care facilities and carers. The health system is already under pressure, the funded sector is reaching capacity and elderly are increasingly likely to find they have no-where to go when they can no longer look after themselves, she says. Ms Smith says a lot of work is already being done to address abuse and neglect, the carer qualification bar is always being lifted, and managing elderly from home through to palliative care won’t count for much if there are not enough beds or carers. “We are looking at three to six year issues, and regardless of who gets into government they will only get worse.” Ms Smith says Labour’s plan to boost support for elderly remaining in their own homes is promising, as is its plan to introduce an aged care commissioner, but hopes such a role would oversee the creation a long term plan, rather than short term tinkering. ENDS

ELDERLY CHOOSING POST-OP CARE AT HOME

In the past year or so Miranda Smith Homecare has noticed an increase in the number of elderly returning home soon after operations and recovering there with assistance from carers. This is sometimes happening due to the need for faster throughput in a stretched public healthcare system, but there also appears to be an emerging generation of educated and independent people making their own decisions and choosing to return home early. While it’s generally the case that health professionals such as physiotherapists play the lead role in these recoveries, our private carers are playing an important support role in ensuring hospital re-admittances are avoided, and success rates in the past several months have been outstanding. Managing director Miranda Smith says in the Wellington region in particular, there has been a notable increase in requests for carer assistance relating to home recovery, and in the past 12 months there has been a 100 percent success rate with clients in terms of avoiding post operation complications and hospital re-admittances. Ms Smith says keeping elderly out of hospital is one of the goals of both standard home care, and home care involving recoveries from operations. She says it’s satisfying to see such a high level of success, and help take some pressure off a stretched healthcare system where every night in a hospital bed can cost the state thousands of dollars. It is becoming more and more apparent that people approaching old age are sorting out home care arrangements themselves, rather than relying on the state or other family members, and similar patterns are being seen overseas. An article from South Shore Home Health in the United States, canvassing opinions from industry leaders, says modern medicine has extended life expectancy, and there has been a growing desire and ability in recent years for elderly to remain at home longer. “Patients receiving post-acute care in the home often spend fewer days in the hospital than they did just 10 or 20 years ago,” one commentator said. “This means that patients leave the hospital sooner and require more rehabilitative care in the home.” The article says, like in New Zealand, the culture in the United States has changed as well, resulting in an increased desire for home care services. “Patients have become much more knowledgeable and sophisticated when it comes to their care.”

NEWS SERIES HIGHLIGHTS CHALLENGES IN AGED CARE INDUSTRY

A recent series of stories about aged care in the New Zealand Herald highlighted some of the challenges faced by the home care industry, and the effect on elderly who want to stay in their own homes rather than rest homes. The government is belatedly putting more focus on ensuring our elderly have the option of being able to stay in their own homes and get home support assistance, but the amount of funding being set aside for this is falling short. The following http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11163782 highlighted the low pay rates of carers and suggested the prospect of any improvement in coming years is dim. The increase in funding for home help is simply not enough to allow for the lift in wages that is required to ensure there are enough people available to do this work in years to come. While the bulk of services provided by Miranda Smith Homecare are on a private basis, we share the concerns of others in the industry, and people who want their elderly family members to be able to remain in their homes with some publicly funded assistance. As the article said, despite spending increases, “the home care budget is still only a fraction of the $928 million public subsidy for residential care”. Miranda Smith Homecare says home care workers play a vital part in ensuring elderly can retain a quality of life in their twilight years, and more and more of those workers will be needed as New Zealand’s population increases to age. However, the industry is becoming a less attractive one to get into because of the poor pay rates and average prospects. “There has to be an element of job satisfaction, opportunities for promotion and a pay scale that reflects someone’s experience and capabilities,” says managing director Miranda Smith. She says with a mixture of a strong and upbeat home care workforce, and input from families who are increasingly aware of the benefits of keeping elderly in their own homes, New Zealand could have an aged care infrastructure to be proud of.

NEW CHRISTCHURCH PARTNERSHIP

Miranda Smith Homecare is now working in conjunction with Acute Demand services in Christchurch to provide urgent last minute care for clients. This is a new service which started in June, exclusively for Christchurch with Pegasus Health. These services range from people being discharged from hospital who are requiring support at home, to urgent last minute care for clients who have suffered an injury/illness, identified by their GP as requiring assistance until something can be organised. The range of care extends from childcare while a mother is recovering from an illness, to personal and homecare services, to overnight sleepovers, giving peace of mind to the client and family. The support allows the client/patient to maintain independence as much as possible at home when family are not able to be there. One client who was waiting for an ACC referral to be processed requested Miranda Smith Homecare continue with the care, and was very pleased with the outcome. The client and her family approached her GP, and together they worked with ACC to get the care from Miranda Smith Homecare continued. The client said the carer was fitting in well with the family. “We could not have chosen a better person to provide such wonderful support. The carer is just lovely, respectful, caring and I could not be happier. This is such an amazing service. I never knew I could receive such excellent care.”

TESTING WINTER FOR WELLINGTON TEAM

Miranda Smith Homecare’s Wellington team and their clients are looking forward to a more settled few months following a winter that delivered two large earthquakes and one of the worst storms in the city’s history. While the quakes were frightening, the June storm had the worst effect on clients and carers. Some communities were left isolated, houses were damaged, and power and phone communications went down in many areas. In some cases carers were unable to make scheduled shift changes or return home due to blocked roads. Robust emergency procedures and health and safety plans were enacted and Miranda Smith Homecare was quick to make contact with all clients and check on their welfare. When communication problems arose, the job of phoning up clients was taken up by Miranda Smith Homecare’s Auckland staff. The team of carers also went the extra mile in awful conditions to make sure their clients were safe and sound. There was some very positive feedback from clients, who showed their appreciation to carers once the storm settled, and were pleased at the overall level of support shown by Miranda Smith Homecare.

AUCKLAND STAFF LOOKING FORWARD TO POSITIVE AGEING EVENT

Miranda Smith Homecare is looking forward to being part of the International Day of the Older Person event at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau on October 3. Miranda Smith Homecare staff will have a stall at the event and encourage anyone who might be considering using private home care for themselves or ageing family members to drop in and discuss options which can be tailor-made to suit a wide range of needs. International Day of the Older Person is an initiative organised by Age Concern Counties-Manukau, and it’s expected to attract over 3000 people. Age Concern says the day is about celebrating positive ageing on an inter-generational level. There will be free parking, free entry, and super gold card holders will be given a free Devonshire tea. There will be plenty of entertainment, information, food stalls and exhibitors to visit.