Prioritising people needing care in post quake Christchurch

Following the 22 February earthquake and subsequent loss of over 600 rest (nursing) home beds in Canterbury, the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) has been working with an expert panel of people from across the aged care sector to develop a set of guidelines to help determine who will have priority for the limited number of rest home beds in the region.

The guidelines are designed to be fair and take the person’s opinion, family situation and level of medical need into account. Executive director of allied health for CDHB, Stella Ward, says each request for a residential care bed will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

“We have agreed that no-one will be moved from their place of residence, even if another person is prioritised more highly. People will only be placed into residential care outside of Canterbury if they choose to do so; or there are safety reasons for doing so, or it’s necessary during a state of emergency,” Ms Ward said.

“Every request for a residential care bed – whether it’s a new request or a transfer back to the region will be assessed using the same guiding principles and prioritisation criteria. This will be through the DHB’s Single Point Of Entry (SPOE) team.

“We know many families are keen to get their loved ones back home to Christchurch. Where possible we are allocating 20% of the available beds to residents returning to Canterbury. The reality is there are very few beds available. With winter around the corner and an increased demand for residential care this number is likely to fluctuate.

Ms Ward said the DHB had increased the amount and variety of care and support services available to people in their own homes.

“As an alternative to residential care, we’re happy to tailor a range of services to help people live independently in their own homes. This isn’t for everyone, but for some – particularly those who have moved in with family on a temporary basis since the quake, this is a good option,”she said.

Since 22 February over 300 rest home residents have been relocated out of Christchurch. An additional 200 residents have been relocated within Canterbury. Of the remaining aged residential care facilities, 10 have serious infrastructure problems and seven were totally evacuated and one partially evacuated.