Family abandons rest-home battle

Eileen Harper. Photo / Supplied

A researcher who campaigned for higher rest-home standards has abandoned an attempt to have a coroner's inquest into his mother's death.

Geoff Harper had sought an inquest for 100-year-old Eileen Harper, who died last September in a Tauranga rest home with undiagnosed scabies despite complaints about her care several months earlier.

The consultant and former auditor spent thousands of hours investigating the case and researching the rest home sector, before handing a 500-page file to police, who told him his case had merit.

But the Harpers have opted not to pursue an inquest after the Health and Disability Commission said it would cease involvement, leaving the case with the coroner.

Mr Harper believed his research conclusively proved negligence by four parties involved in the case, including Cedar Manor, the Tauranga rest home where his mother contracted scabies, and Bay of Plenty District Health Board.

The family approached the health board, the rest home, its Auckland-based umbrella company, the HDC, the Human Rights Tribunal, the Department of Labour, Health Minister Tony Ryall, the Labour and Greens Committee, Age Concern and Grey Power.

The family's last resort was to turn to the Herald.

"We've been through the political process, talked with every single politician you can think of, done a full analysis, and really in essence, there is nowhere further to go but more publicity. I'm pretty dogged and an ex-district councillor with resources and information, but even then they bat you off - it's a complete dead end. They want to suck you into those processes so you spend time and money, and that just exhausts most people."

Figures Mr Harper has received under the Official Information Act show there have been 249 complaints to the HDC related to rest homes in the past two years. In that time, 173 deaths in rest homes, which were sudden, had no obvious cause of death, or were suspicious, were referred to the coroner and 25 required a coroner's determination.

Also in the past two years, just two complaints had progressed to the stage of a Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and three went before a Human Rights Tribunal hearing, resulting in a total of $9500 in fines.

"I guess all we've done over the whole investigation is reveal a rest home industry that it totally dysfunctional, a complaints procedure that is a complete sham and a penalty regime that has no effect."

Mr Harper has also been invited to share his views at a think tank hosted by the New Zealand Aged Care Association in Auckland in August, which will look at how the sector will meet consumers' expectations with constrained state funding in the future.

Association chief executive Martin Taylor said the sector was audited more regularly than any other Government health service. He said there were multiple levels for complaints and of the 40,000 New Zealanders who went through aged care each year, about one quarter of a per cent involved a verifiable complaint.

"Even though I wish it were less, the reality is that when there's humans interacting with humans, there is always going to be problems. I think the whole idea that there is a systemic problem cannot be supported by the statistics."