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.