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Enid and Peter Ford - Source: ONE News -
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Cuts to home help for the elderly are beginning to bite, with
some families claiming that it's putting their parents' health and
safety at risk.
Thousands of pensioners around the country are having their
support reassessed and for some the move is threatening their
independence.
When Peter Ford's 92-year-old mother Enid could no longer cope he moved from Australia to support her. Along with his help, Enid received help from a carer for an hour each day.
But that was then suddenly chopped back to just half an
hour.
"It was a situation where I was virtually in tears because I
couldn't cope. I'm a strong person and I found it easier to kick
someone's backside then to cry," said Peter.
Thousands of elderly people like Enid are being reassessed by their District Health Boards (DHB's) and in most cases cutting their home help, leaving their families to pick up the burden.
Auckland University Professor Des Gorman, who is also chairman of Health Workforce New Zealand, said the number of elderly needing care is growing and their health concerns are also becoming more acute.
"Although there is more money being allocated to elderly this year and next year, the demand is increasing at quite an extraordinary rate.
"It's already urgent and now the very fact that DHB's have to see who is receiving home help and where money could be better employed, demonstrates that there is some degree of redistribution going on."
He warns that the way health care functions in the future will have to be very different from how it operates today.
"Over the next decade we expect the demand of health care for aging New Zealand to double and that's an extraordinary challenge."
Labour Leader Phil Goff said if they keep making cuts then more people will end up in rest homes at a much higher cost.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said DHB's are going through making sure people are getting what they are entitled to.
The government said the Home Help Bill is continuing to grow and while some are having their hours cut, others are having their level of care increased.
"I've had an assurance from them that no-one will be unsafe in their homes as a result of these changes," said Ryall.
For Peter and his mother Enid, their fight has not been in vain - their home help was recently bumped back up to an hour a day. However, it is still not enough and with Peter having to head back to Australia, Enid is now moving into a rest home.
