Red flags for union as restructure continues at Cromwell villages

Workers at two Cromwell retirement villages are raising concerns job losses may impact quality of care for residents, and a leading union representative agrees, based on trends they are seeing across the country.

However the new owner of the Cromwell facilities maintains its restructure, announced in recent weeks and still ongoing, is designed to benefit residents.

An employee of Promisia Healthcare, which in August took over Golden View and Ripponburn, says it is their view "residents will suffer" if flagged drops in hours for care and activities staff go ahead.

An initial document presented to staff at the start of the restructuring process detailing proposed changes shows hours for senior and general caregivers dropping from 2,083 hours to 1,600 hours per week across the two centres, with hours attached to activities staff dropping from 209 hours per week to 104 hours.

In response to a request from Crux for comment on these figures, Christchurch-based executive director of Promisia Healthcare Craig Percy has offered the following brief written comment:

"The two facilities have largely been run as separate entities and it makes sense to provide residents with the benefits that come with a single integrated offering. What form this takes is still being worked through with staff - as part of the consultation process - however, we don’t envisage any material change to care and activities hours."

Mat Danaher is a director at E tū union with a responsibility for care and support workers, and he says what's happening in Cromwell is not unique and is evidence of a broken system.

He expects fewer care hours to have "a significant impact" on residents as well as staff.

"What you've got in Cornwall is really just a microcosm of a national picture," he says.

"What we're seeing is not only a reduction in care and support hours; we're seeing, in some places, residents being rationed in the amount of fluids they can be given every day because there aren't the staff numbers to take them to the toilet."

He worries about reductions in activities staff, who he says play a vital role in helping residents mitigate and delay the impacts of age related cognitive decline.

"There's a knock on effect on the health of residents...there's no doubt in my mind."

Mr Danaher expects some workers in Cromwell will lose their jobs while those that remain may end up picking up the slack.

"Because the kind of people that work in care are generally people who care, they will not do less work as a result of this, they will end up doing more work.

"Also, it's a workforce that is over 90 percent female, significant numbers of them aged over 40 or 50 themselves. Then, often, as a result of this intensification of work caused by these changes, they can become injured, often in a life changing way."

Mr Danaher says "millions of hours" are being taken out of the care system across the country as the primary funder of aged care services in the country, Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora, tries to find $2 billion in savings due to government budgeting.

He thinks the advent of private profit-driven providers in the residential aged care sector is also an issue.

"But the reality is that it does come down to the preparedness and willingness of government to fund these providers to deliver services that are required by people (who otherwise can't afford it)."

Earlier in the process Mr Percy and Promisia Healthcare HR manager Wilesca Calitiz provided Crux with a face-to-face interview on the company's plans.

They said some back office work is expected to shift from Cromwell to Christchurch, where Promisia Healthcare has its headquarters, while other roles will be consolidated across the two local facilities.

During the interview, they would not be drawn on how many jobs could be lost, saying staff had until November 8 to provide feedback on what is proposed, with any decisions coming 10 days after that.

Mr Percy said, "At the heart of this has to be the residents and making sure they are well looked after".

He thinks the aged care sector is in for some interesting years ahead, with a growing retirement population and people living longer.

He told Crux the current funding model has its limitations and any changes Promise Healthcare makes will refocused on balancing care efficiencies with financial efficiencies, which he thinks "go hand in hand".

Cromwell's two retirement villages change ownership

Main images (Facebook): Job losses and changes for residents are possible as new owners Promisia Healthcare consider a restructure for Golden View and Ripponburn retirement villages in Cromwell.