Ageing in place not a reality yet say Presbyterians

The Presbyterian Church is calling on the Government to make ageing in place a reality rather than just a policy objective. 

“Progress is happening,” says Moderator the Rt Rev Pamela Tankersley, “but it’s not coming fast enough. Today – international day of the older person – is a good opportunity to bring these issues to the fore”.

The Church is looking forward to the annual update on the Positive Ageing Strategy to see what progress has been made on major workstreams says Mrs Tankersley. 

“With around one third of the population expected to be over 65 by mid this century, compared to just 12 percent now, it’s essential that meaningful progress on the big workstreams is made now, or older Kiwis will be left out in the cold – literally,” she says.

“But if last year’s report is anything to go by, it’ll show that progress against the big ticket items has been slow and cosmetic,” she says.

“Local councils ‘ticking the box’ to say they’ve consulted with elderly and advised them of their entitlements is business-as-usual stuff - it’s not doing much to address the fundamental issues like inadequate housing for the elderly and under-funding in the aged care sector.”

Older people want to stay in their own homes, she says, but a big barrier to doing so, is that they often can’t afford to adapt the house to meet their care needs.  The only option then becomes moving into a residential care facility – often much earlier than would have been the case if appropriate housing had been available. 

“Ageing in place can’t happen unless older people have access to a physical place that’s suitable. There’s a big gap at the moment between the policy objective of ageing in place, which we support, and practical progress toward suitable housing options,” explains Mrs Tankersley. 

One of the workstreams in the Positive Ageing Strategy that will have a positive impact on the availability of suitable housing, is the implementation of universal design principals in state and private sector housing for older people. 

“We hope to see that the Government has put more effort into bringing together public and private sector on implementing universal design for the building industry.  The longer this is left, the longer older Kiwis will be without housing appropriate to their care needs.”

The other big area is recognising the importance of rest home caregivers.  Recent cash injections into the sector don’t go far enough by a long shot, says Mrs Tankersley. 

“Care workers typically get paid around the same as someone working at a fast food chain.  Is this right? Is this what we want for our parents and grandparents?”

“Under-funding is a recognised and well-documented problem in the sector. Urgent action is needed to improve the status, training and pay for care workers, which will help attract and retain a suitable workforce. 

Mrs Tankersley confirms that these issues were raised with the Prime Minister during a Church leaders meeting in mid-September. 

Presbyterians have a long history – through social service arm, Presbyterian Support – of working with the marginalised, and the highlighting of issues impacting older New Zealanders is part of the Church’s continued efforts to serve New Zealand communities.

Notes to the reporter:

For more information or to arrange an interview with the Rt Rev Pamela Tankersley, please contact Jose Reader on 027 353 9936.