Idea Services gives Hawke’s Bay mum less than 48 hours notice of disabled son’s move from home of 20 years

Shona Allan was disappointed by the short notice given by Idea Services when her son Paul was moved to Napier from Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor

Significant support worker shortages in Hawke’s Bay have forced a short-notice closure of a home for people with disabilities.

Shona Allan says she was informed less than 48 hours before her son Paul, who has an intellectual disability, was shifted from the Idea Services home he’d lived in for more than 20 years in Hastings to another house in Napier.

“I was given notification about 4pm last Monday and Paul was in Napier by Wednesday lunchtime.”

Idea Services says it gave as much notice as it could to residents and their families but its hand had been forced by a “significant challenge” with staff illnesses and recruitment in the region.

James Leigh, Hawke’s Bay area manager for Idea Services, said the Covid-19 pandemic and other illnesses were affecting them, like many other businesses across the country.

“In Hawke’s Bay, particularly, this has proven to be a significant challenge, however we are increasingly putting our focus into recruiting more support workers to avoid service disruptions through online drives and open days.”

He said Idea Services had to relocate three people into another home on November 9, despite efforts to avoid that outcome.

“They all understood why it needed to happen and communicated with us that they were happy with the temporary move,” Leigh said.

“I personally also contacted the families involved with as much notice as possible, and this was followed up by a call from the MidCentral regional manager to explain the reasons for the move.”

Allan said Paul was now sleeping in the lounge at the Napier house, because there were not enough bedrooms for the residents staying there.

“It’s a very big and nice lounge, but he hasn’t got a bedroom,” Allan said.

“They didn’t take his own bed, because Paul has got a king-sized bed, they said it was too big to take over so he has got a crummy old bed.”

She said she didn’t think it was fair on Paul, or the other residents, since he took up a communal space they could otherwise use.

Shona Allan wants a better idea of how long Paul's temporary arrangement will last. Photo / Paul Taylor

Allan said Paul had been taken care of by good Idea Services staff, and he seemed happy, but she was disappointed that Idea Services wasn’t able to give more notice of the move for family members.

She said it was hard to be certain that the arrangement would be temporary, as no business or service could be certain how long staffing shortages would last.

“The staffing problem isn’t going to improve in two months. They tell me they have to train staff, I don’t know how long it takes to train staff.”

Allan said she hoped increased awareness of the impact of support worker shortages in Hawke’s Bay would help increase the number of qualified people applying.

Leigh said he did not know when the Hastings house would be open again, but Idea Services was doing all it could to ensure that the people it supported could move back into their home.

“We will review the situation in January, and everyone has been made clear of this temporary arrangement.”