KEY POINTS:
New details have been revealed of complaints against a controversial Auckland rest home, including a case of an elderly resident being locked out in the middle of the night.
Belhaven Rest Home was closed by the Health Ministry in July and its funding contract cancelled by the Auckland District Health Board, after an investigation triggered by an elderly woman's mouth being taped shut to keep her quiet.
The residents of the 16-bed home in Epsom were transferred to other facilities, some of them to hospital-level care, after Belhaven was found to be unsafe and unhygienic.
The worker accused of taping the 69-year-old woman's mouth was sacked and has been charged with assault.
Previously secret ministry reports, released to the National Party, say a 72-year-old man was locked out during the night of March 11 last year.
"The caregiver stated the purpose of locking this resident out was he 'keep calling all night and waking other residents, put outside to not wake other residents'."
A neighbour had told the ministry he was woken between 1am and 2am by loud yelling. He saw the man yelling at the back door and wanting to be let in. A caregiver inside the closed door was yelling back.
National's health spokesman, Tony Ryall, said the case highlighted the need for his party's policy of spot audits of rest homes and public disclosure of the reports. Labour has also promised spot checks and public audit report summaries.
The ministry investigation found evidence that "a number of incidents of verbal and physical abuse" had occurred in 2006; and that staff used "punitive-focused and reactionary measures" against residents when their behaviour became hard to manage. Other findings were:
* Deficiencies in the food service, including food staff not covering their hair and a freezer housed in a dirty, dusty outside shed.
* Numerous problems with the building, including unsafe decking on a veranda, an unsecured grab-rail in a shower for disabled people and an "unacceptable level of urine odour" in one room.
* A lack of effective management and clinical governance. The nurse-manager, Patricia Hooper, who was also a director, confirmed she had been absent for an extended period because she had suffered a fractured pelvis.
* It exceeded its rest home-level certification by caring for residents needing hospital-level care.
The ministry banned Mrs Hooper from providing any health care. This thwarted her plan to shift residents to another rest home she had intended to open in Mt Roskill when Belhaven's lease expired.
Mrs Hooper said the ministry reports were excessive and unfair, relying, regarding one complaint, on hearsay evidence from the sister of a resident who had died.
She said the March 2007 incident had been misconstrued. The man wanted a smoke, although he did not usually smoke in the middle of the night. "He was yelling and asking for a smoke. Other rest homes are way, way worse than there and they still remain open."
