March 01, 2022
Covid restrictions hitting rest home workforce
The Aged Care Association is warning the sector is near collapse.
Chief executive Simon Wallace says one in five positions are unfilled, a shortage of about 1000 workers – and large numbers of staff are off work because of Covid-19.
While closed borders have stopped qualified nurses coming from overseas, the pay gap is also having an impact, with nurses getting $15,000 to $20,000 less than their public hospital counterparts.
“There are around about 40,000 beds across 650 rest homes around the country and we’ve got 20 of those sites that have had to close some or all of the beds, and that affects older New Zealanders,” Mr Wallace says.
While Māori take up only about 5 per cent of rest home beds, a greater percentage of staff are Māori.