Caregiver gets job back after yelling claims

A Whangarei caregiver has been reinstated following complaints she yelled at a rest-home resident - who turned out to be partially deaf.

The allegation was made by one of three nursing students visiting Puriri Court for a training programme two weeks ago.

The rest-home investigated and found the woman had indeed yelled, but she had to as the patient was partially deaf.

"If the student had read the case notes she would have known the woman had a hearing problem and dementia, and there was a care plan in place," director Terry Charleston told the Northern Advocate.

"We would not tolerate any kind of abuse here."

The caregiver had been suspended following the complaint which Mr Charleston described as "a really unfortunate misunderstanding."

However, a second complaint was laid by the NorthTec students after two of them were offended by an exchange between a second female caregiver and a male resident.

The resident and his wife told the newspaper the students had witnessed the pair sharing a joke.

"It's all so stupid," the man said.

Mr Charleston said the caregiver and resident had been "mortified" their banter had been taken out of context.

The students had since been removed from the rest-home and NorthTec's nursing school was investigating what led to their behaviour.

- NZPA