Te Whatu Ora/The Ministry of Health has extended Kerikeri Retirement Village’s rest home certification for a further four years following an “excellent” audit. The Ministry noted that the Village continues to mitigate successfully the nationwide shortage of Registered Nurses impacting all aged care providers.
This is the third consecutive four-year extension granted to the Village.
“Aged Care facility certification can be extended for two, three or four years, depending on the outcome of the audit,” said Kerikeri Retirement Village CEO Hilary Sumpter. “Most extensions are for three years and come with a list of improvements that need to be made. So this third four-year extension in a row is a real credit to our clinical nurse manager, Jarrah Tuoro, and the entire team who helped us across the line.”
All aged residential care facilities (rest homes) in NZ are audited to ensure they provide safe, appropriate care for their residents, and meet the standards set out in the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act. Certifications of individual rest homes, and the corrective actions they call for, are viewable on the Ministry of Health website, health.govt.nz, by typing ‘rest home audits’ in the search box.
“We know from discussions with the families of our care residents that independent, impartial reviews of rest homes are hugely important when it comes to making decisions about where to place their loved ones,” Ms Sumpter said.
Two-year extensions of certification normally indicate some level of concern on the part of inspectors so if a rest home has had more than a single two-year extension over the past six to eight years, it is worth paying attention to the detail and corrective actions required.
Certification audits cover all aspects of a care facility’s operation, from the standard of clinical care right through to the quality of the food and cleaning services, documentation and record-keeping. A care facility can have its ability to operate removed if it fails audits.
Aged residential care facilities are all struggling at the moment with the shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) and lack of government funding for other staff such as household workers, and Healthcare Assistants who make up the bulk of the workforce. At the same time, they face increasing demand for aged residential care.
“The risk is that the care of vulnerable elderly becomes compromised,” Ms Sumpter said. “So, keeping an eye on care facility audits is really important when selecting a home for your family member.”
Kerikeri Retirement Village is reporting weekly to Te Whatu Ora on its nursing cover while it continues to recruit.
“Aged residential care continues to be a challenging sector to work in, yet the work we do is so important in terms of respecting and cherishing our elders who live with us,” Ms Sumpter said.
