Christine Leslie receives care from Visionwest five days a week to help her use the bathroom. Photo / Andrew Warner
Christine Leslie receives care from Visionwest five days a week to help her use the bathroom. Photo / Andrew Warner
A woman in a wheelchair says she is having to call her husband home from work to help her in the bathroom when in-home carers fail to show up.
Rotorua woman Christine Leslie, 66, said she “burst into tears” last week when she was told by care provider Visionwest HomeHealthcare they could not get a carer in - something she claims happens every month.
“There have been days here I’ve had my head in my hands bawling my eyes out. Where do I go, what do I do?”
Another Rotorua resident said there were times when Visionwest carers “never showed up” and had stopped using their services as a result.
In response, Visionwest said a “tight labour market” and staff shortages across the health workforce were barriers to recruiting support workers, but it was working with staff to cover visits and offer additional care “wherever possible”.
Leslie said she was meant to receive six and a half hours of care per week from a Visionwest carer to help her use the bathroom and do housework.
Christine, who has been in a wheelchair since 2017 due to damaged nerves in her neck, said she needed help getting off the toilet and pulling up her trousers.
“I’ve been left here having to ring my husband at work to come in and do it.”
Leslie said on Thursday last week, she was left “absolutely devastated” after finding out Visionwest could not get a carer in due to staff sickness.
“I burst into tears and said, ‘This is not good enough’.”
Leslie said two carers ended up coming that afternoon, but she only got about four hours of care for the week.
“Last week was rotten [with] carers off sick - so they had to fit you in where they could.”
Leslie said she was “very happy” with the services she received from carers.
“It’s when people are crook [that] we get let down.”
Asked how often carers did not show, Leslie claimed “roughly” one week per month was affected.
Rotorua pensioner Annie Wells said there were times when Visionwest carers - who were meant to come every Tuesday and Friday for one hour - “never showed up”.
Wells, who lived alone, said the carers were meant to do the housework and help apply medical ointment on her back.
She started receiving care in February for about five or six weeks, but no longer does because she felt “so disappointed and not very happy with them”.
Wells said she called a Visionwest boss to complain.
She said she also “made attempts” to complain by calling the Rotorua and Tauranga branches but “got nowhere”.
It seemed to her that “they do have trouble getting staff”.
Their stories come after a Rotorua woman spoke out saying no-shows by Visionwest carers meant her 75-year-old mother, who has dementia and is incontinent, could spend up to 24 hours in a soiled diaper unless she dropped everything to help.
Christine Leslie says she has had to call her husband at work to help her when carers do not show. Photo / Andrew Warner
Visionwest Home Healthcare head of health and community services Murray Penman said the home and community support services sector was “heavily reliant” on people who were “willing and able” to work throughout the week, including evenings and weekends.
“Currently, we are in a very tight labour market, which means it is a continual challenge to attract support workers.”
Penman said this was a sector-wide issue faced by community health providers.
In the event of a support worker being sick and unable to work, the company required them to let them know as soon as possible, he said.
“This gives us [the] best possible opportunity to communicate with clients and find potential replacement support workers.”
“Sometimes, we only have short notice, and a replacement support worker may not be able to be arranged for the original scheduled visit. However, we often schedule a replacement worker as close to the original appointment as possible.”
When looking for a replacement, it followed a process to find a relief carer who had the right level of skills to match the client’s individual needs.
The team looked at the type of support originally scheduled, as some categories were more urgent than others. Diabetes management must always be delivered on time, for example, Penman previously told the Rotorua Daily Post.
“If we cannot find cover, we communicate with the family as soon as possible about the matter.”
Due to the structure of the sector, support workers could accept or decline additional work, he said.
“Our support workers accept extra work on a regular basis, where they can, and are committed to their clients’ wellbeing.”
Penman said stress and staff shortages across the entire health workforce and the impact of the “tight labour market” were barriers to finding support workers.
“Regardless of the two factors above, Visionwest, and many health providers at this time, are working with our staff to cover visits and offer additional care wherever possible, while balancing the wellbeing of our staff and needs of our clients.”
