One of the country's biggest rest homes has been stung for letting two elderly residents lose a substantial amount of weight without proper intervention.

A rest home where a nurse was accused of threatening an elderly woman with being committed to a mental institution says it has made major changes and provides high-quality care.

"It's not a commodity you're dealing with, it's humans." Lloyd Dean fears the Edmund Hillary Retirement Village in Remuera failed to learn the lessons of his dad's death.

An outbreak of scabies infestations at a rest home wasn't managed properly for nine months, an official investigation has found.

Long-term care for elderly New Zealanders is becoming a byproduct of the property development business.

A trust that sold off a 100-year lease of Auckland's historic Ranfurly veterans' home has called in an outside expert to review the quality of care the veterans are now receiving.

Executives at highly rated retirement business Summerset Group Holdings say it is on target to finish 200 new village units this year and that they are gearing up to build 300 by 2015.

Statistics NZ said yesterday that the population aged 65-plus had doubled since the early 1980s to 635,200 and was likely to double again by 2040.

Three NZX-listed retirement businesses are in a big growth phase, with more than 1000 new units planned.

A home that was supposed to be a retirement dream has become a fast-tightening noose around its owner's neck, after he has become trapped in a rare situation where he must move - but can't sell.

Mia Geraets lived for 25 years at the resthome her brother helped establish. It was a shock to her family when the resthome operators said the 85-year-old would have to leave the only place she knew as home.

Simon Challies is an innovative thinker whose time at the helm of Ryman Healthcare has been critical to the firm's success, says David Kerr, chairman of the retirement village operator.

Studies show New Zealanders' retirement years are more likely to be blighted by sickness, loneliness, disability or lack of money than spent travelling the world.

Before my friend Paul Holmes knew his illness was terminal, we'd begun discussing a joint retirement project.