Ailing seniors taken for a ride

Chris Lippiatt

The author is a very tired son of a rest home resident.

On 1 May, changes to the Age-Related Residential Care Services came into effect. One of these changes is that rest homes no longer must cover the costs of ambulance services.

These costs will now be passed on to the elderly — people on fixed incomes, with the majority of their pensions going directly to the rest homes; people with higher-than-average health needs and higher risk of falls, broken bones, heart attacks, strokes … the list is seemingly endless.

Ambulance emergency callouts will cost over $100 per trip. Transfer back to a home is not an emergency and will cost $250.

Rest home residents can join Friends of St John for $80 per year out of their own pocket and get free emergency callouts. But any transfers are not covered.
My mother has severe health issues; she joined Friends of St John but has still accumulated more than a $1000 bill within a month as taxis and the rest home lack adequate transport options.

St John people have been exceptional and told her not to pay anything until the finance department can try to work things out. They are busy with many in a similar situation. But with limited resources and the growing number of elderly, they can’t be expected to absorb everything.

I have been alerted to reports of residents refusing ambulances.
To people reading this, check in on your elderly relatives.

To Health New Zealand and the rest homes, what moral justification is there to make this decision when the affected, vulnerable stakeholders who have to foot the bill had no say, no representation, and no knowledge that this would be negotiated?