KEY POINTS:
All 21 District Health Boards need to improve their care of the elderly, according to a new report.
While good progress was being made in some areas, there were issues of concern, said Professor Emeritus David Richmond, chairman of the Hope Foundation for Research on Ageing.
The foundation surveyed how well the DHBs were meeting the Government's policy on the health of older people which is meant to be implemented by 2010.
Prof Richmond said the survey found the needs of ethnic minorities, the quality of service delivery and the extent of service integration with the DHBs all required improvement.
"The research also revealed factors that hinder implementation of the strategy.
"These include the level of Health Ministry funding, workforce availability and training and the internal 'culture' of some of the DHBs."
Prof Richmond said that with a quarter of the population over 65 by 2040, ageing was arguably the most important challenge facing New Zealand over the next 25 years.
"It is vital that we develop appropriate responses now rather than just hoping it will go away if it is ignored."
The research follows the release in 2002 of The NZ Health of Older People Strategy which set out the Government's future direction of health and disability support services for older people.
The Hope survey revealed divergences in the preparedness of health boards to meet the strategy objectives, Prof Richmond said.
He said, however, that it was encouraging that DHBs were making progress even though the level of consumer or community satisfaction was not clear.
"What is disconcerting is the lack of documentary evidence to support DHB management's contention that the strategy is being satisfactorily rolled out."
While DHBs were confident good progress was being made, the research revealed discrepancies between those perceptions and what the DHBs' own action plans showed was really happening.
"Our report shows that improvements to health services for older people are less than those being reported by DHB managers."
The findings include:
* All but one DHB has a section on older people's health in its district annual plan. Otago did not, despite having one of the highest proportions - 14 percent -- of people over 65 years;
* Health boards made informal assumptions rather than providing actual evidence that older people were satisfied with their services;
* Only 12 of the 21 DHBs rated themselves. Of those which did, Capital and Coast Health rated itself the most highly in terms of implementing the strategy, followed by Hawke's Bay. West Coast rated itself the lowest;
* Smaller DHBs had difficulty attracting staff while the larger ones found labour costs were high and suffered quality issues, particularly in home-based support services because of the number of different providers;
* Wages for home-based support staff should be increased;
* Nursing services in the community should be increased;
* Older people are often unaware of what they are entitled to and GPs and other health providers do not tell them; and
* Health services should avoid giving people inappropriate appointment times, such as 8am in rush hour traffic for a frail elderly person.
The research reviewed documents from all 21 DHBs and evaluated responses from some local Age Concern branches, all of which had been invited to participate.
The Hope Foundation is an independent organisation without ties to any government funding.
- NZPA
