Staff problem affects care of elderly

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 7

Staff problem affects care of elderly

r By John Brown The health of elderly people is being jeopardised because of staffing problems at Canterbury’s only geriatric assessment and rehabilitation unit at Princess Margaret Hospital The unit has been without a permanent medical director since May 1977: the North Canterbury Hospital Board has failed to attract a person to the S~o,ooo-a-year position in spite of widespread advertising ■ id ■ New Zealand and overseas. The unit was set up by Dr Graham Riley in 1972. He was geriatrician-in-charge until he retired on May 16 last year. Since then, every meeting of the board has made reference to the “urgent” need for a permanent geriatrician and for an improvement in the status of geriatric medicine generally. However, little progress has been made in an area which some board members feel has become the Cinderella of the health system. Board members who have taken a special interest ini geriatric medicine are adamant that an efficient geri-i atric assessment and rehabi-j litation unit is vital in meet-■; ing the .needs of elderly! people in Christchurch .They | say that it plays an import-] ant part in establishing i

whether elderly people can] ! cope at home, with support I y ■ services, or whether they | iishould apply for residential] s accommodation. The geriatric unit, provid-I - ing places for 68 persons' s still falls far short of the! 167 beds recommended by! tithe Department of Health] .! for a population of a city' > I the size of Christchurch. ] The acting head of the! , unit (Dr T. O. Enticott) hasp ; ;other responsibilities as head'l iiOf both the Coronation and] . Jubilee homes for the eld-1 1 erly. He is assisted by two'l •, medical registrars, two ■ ..medical house surgeons, and] . a part-time physician. Dr ; Wendy Low. Nursing, physiotherapy, and occupaticmal- ,; therapy staff are drawn: /from Princess Margaret Hosi: pital. Dr Enticott said that; i the unit was suffering ( ■ from a lack of continuity i . and that staff morale was! low because no-one could] ■ give any guarantees about! ■ the future of the unit. Unless permanent appoint- ] ments are made for three] ■ geriatricians, one of whom | (would head the unit, its role! in geriatric medicine will be iseriously hampered. The unit is recognised as having a key role in the! (new co-ordinating office for] i geriatric and community] ■ support services. If it re-1 I mains understaffed for much

| longer this role will be (diminished. J The co-ordinating office . will be headed, by Mr Peter ; Andrews with a research assistant, a clerk, a typist, and four district nurses. Its budget for ’the next year is $125,000, which will come from the Government. Dr Enticott said that the geriatric; unit had to play a bigger part in geriatric care once the co-ordinating office began work. “Without a permanent head and two more geriatricians this will be impossible,” he said.