“Major Political Parties Avoiding Tough Decisions on Future of Care for the Elderly” – Aged Care Association

Wellington, November 4, 2011 - Both major parties - National and Labour - are avoiding the tough funding and policy decisions to maintain the quality of life of the elderly in care and to ensure enough beds are available to address the future grey tsunami, says the New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA).

This follows NZACA’s analysis of the replies from each political party to specific questions relating to aged residential care policy positions.

“Both parties seem to be in state of denial”, says NZACA Chief Executive, Martin Taylor. “This is despite compelling evidence which says that if nothing is done now, the aged residential care sector will be in crisis by 2015.

“A strong possible consequence of funding shortfalls is that the industry will be forced to build multi-bed rooms to stay within the funding strictures imposed by Government. We have to ask the question, is that what we want for our elderly?”

“Both National and Labour are also unwilling to commit to basic policy propositions such as maintaining the quality of life of the elderly in aged residential care by aligning funding levels with CPI. They are both dithering on what should be a straightforward commitment.

“The focus of the election campaign to date seems to have been a balanced Budget, but the parties cannot achieve that by simply ignoring significant future costs. This denial will be at the expense of the elderly who are amongst our most vulnerable citizens. These are the people who have helped to build this nation.

An independent report by Grant Thornton funded and commissioned by Government, District Health Boards and the NZACA concluded that shortages of residential aged care beds will appear by around 2015 unless new facilities are planned and built now.

“It takes three years to plan and build a facility and if we do nothing now, we’ll be facing a real crisis in a few years”, says Mr. Taylor.

However, in reality, shortages are already beginning to appear as not all districts have evenly matched supply and demand. The elderly have to move out of their communities in order to receive the care that they need. This is placing emotional and financial stress on the elderly and their families.

“This isn’t an issue that will hit us in a few decades; it’s an issue that’s affecting our elderly and their families now, says Mr. Taylor.

“The voting public should take a good look at the party positions and ask themselves: Which party cares for my parents, grandparents and eventually me in my old age?” says Mr. Taylor.

The full set of questions and the parties’ answers are available on NZACA’s website (www.whocares.org.nz).

ENDS

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