Release of the Aged Residential Care Service Review

Fifty years ago, New Zealand built numerous schools, hospitals and houses to meet the needs of a new generation we now know as "the baby boomers".

As this generation enters retirement, New Zealand faces a new, yet similar, challenge: we do not have the facilities or services to care for these ageing people.

Most individual New Zealanders have never thought about the likelihood of having to provide personal care for loved ones, and then needing it for themselves.

New Zealand needs to anticipate the future demand for aged residential care.

And then develop long-term plans to progressively lift the number of beds available; making sure they are in the right place at the right time to meet our changing needs and expectations.

We need to start planning now.

So that is why the Aged Residential Care Service Review has been undertaken.

This major project is a collaboration by the Aged Residential Care sector, DHBs and the Ministry of Health ... to help plan for the future.

This is an important work - a comprehensive study of aged residential care with some very useful baseline information.

It will greatly help our future decision making.

And it's great that providers, DHBs and the Ministry of Health have worked collaboratively to complete it. 

As you know, the past 20 years have seen dramatic changes in caring for older people around the world.

As has been noted, older people are encouraged to remain in their homes for as long as possible and rest homes are no longer the inevitable destination for the very old.

The care needs - or acuity - of older New Zealanders in aged-residential care is getting higher and higher.

And this is changing the services you offer older New Zealanders. Providers are expanding hospital and dementia care, much more so than resthome beds.

By 2026, almost a million New Zealanders will be over 65 years of age. That's more than double the current number of people.

Most importantly, the number of New Zealanders over the age of 85 will increase from nearly 50,000 to more than 125,000.

But the ageing population is not the only challenge facing the aged care sector.

One of the most significant demographic factors is the northward flow of population and the growth of greater Auckland.

By 2026, it is projected Auckland will grow by 46% compared to a national population increase of just 22%.

The Ministry of Health estimates that a third of DHB populations will shrink, a third will stay the same, and a third will expand significantly.

People's expectations are also changing. People want greater choice and quality. They want a more personalised service that meets their individual needs.

Clearly these trends will have a huge impact on the demand for aged care services.

Our ability as a country to meet these demands will depend on two things: how prosperous we are as a country, and how well we use our resources.

Wealthier countries can afford to pay for better aged-care services. Policies that help build a more prosperous future for New Zealand are at the heart of National's blueprint for change.

At the same time, we must get the most out of our existing resources.

That means investing in aged care services as wisely and effectively as we can, and making sure that services are responsive to the needs of older New Zealanders.

This Government is committed to supporting and protecting the public health services. 

We are fixing Health services by giving an extra $512 million in the last budget. 

And there will be funding increases in the next budget.

But we are living through the aftermath of one of the worst economic recessions in 70 years.

The impact will be felt for some years to come.

That makes it even more imperative that in Health we focus on improving quality and efficiency - to get the most out of our resources.

We are already doing a considerable amount of work to achieve that.

We have increased the subsidies for rest home care by $72 million over four years ($18 million per year) to improve nursing quality and supervision. 

This year we have invested another $64m over 4 years in increased subsidies for aged care.

The Government has also been strongly supportive of widening the scope of enrolled nursing which will be beneficial to rest home care.

An auditor general's report on residential care last year was particularly critical of the state of auditing and monitoring of aged residential care.

So we have introduced spot auditing, auditing the auditors and publishing summaries of rest home audits on the Ministry of Health website so older New Zealanders and their families can make better informed choices about residential care.

The aged care sector is also stepping up.

And that's what this report reflects: the sector stepping up to help plan for the future.

To provide more certainty and security for current and future services, we need good information and we need to start planning now.

Aged residential care is a public-private partnership, where the government - as the principal funder - can do more to create the platform for investment and improved services.

We look forward to the continued work of aged care providers, DHBs and the MOH as we further develop the report's recommendations.