A chronic shortage of aged residential care nurses in the South is starting to affect the quality of care given to the elderly. "Managers are receiving phone calls from both HealthCERT [the aged residential care system administrator] and auditors concerned about these findings." At the end of October, five hospital-level aged residential care facilities reported 83 shifts without a registered nurse working on site, Mr Dowding said. "This further increases the disparity between DHB nurses and others in the health sector, especially in aged residential care and home and community support services." "To date, the programme has made contact with up to 150 internationally qualified nurses," Mr Dowding said.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 02, 2021 15:43 UTC