Village at the Park resthome in Berhampore, Wellington. Photo: Google Maps
Workers affected by proposed cuts at Arvida's Village at the Park will now have to go through a selection process for their jobs.
Last month Arvida, which has 35 retirement communities across New Zealand, proposed cutting more than 400 hours a week from care workers, nurses, and activity co-ordinators at its Wellington Village at the Park, in Berhampore.
E Tu spokesperson Rochelle Hill said Arvida had confirmed last week that it was going ahead with the changes with some small amendments.
She said they were still proposing to cut 54 hours from the roster of registered nurses, but had slightly reduced the number of care hours being removed from the remaining staff, proposing 310 hours instead of the initial 355.
Arvida had added a six-hour shift to the roster following feedback expressing concerns about the number of team members in the dementia unit during the sundowning period - the time of the day when dementia patients can have increased agitation and anxiety and need more supervision and help to calm.
Meanwhile, the role of activities co-ordinator would be absorbed into other care-giving roles.
Monday was the deadline for all affected staffed to state whether they wished to be considered for a position on the new roster.
Hill said staff would now have to go through a selection process for the available roles, and the new roster would come into effect on 23 September.
She said the union didn't yet know how those cuts would look, but were concerned how they would impact staff.
Green MP for the Rongotai area Julie Anne Genter has written to Arvida following the proposal.
She said the community and residents were also worried about the the negative impacts the cuts would have both on residents and staff.
Some staff had been recruited from overseas during the pandemic, and Genter said they had now been put in a position of employment insecurity.
The cuts also came at a time when Arvida was being positioned to be sold to overseas investment firm Stonepeak.
"Aged care needs to be about caring for the people in our community," Genter said.
"We need quality of life and we need staff to have good working conditions so that they can do this really important work.
"The profits of overseas investors shouldn't be what's driving decisions at an aged care facility."
Genter said the government would need to approve the sale via the Overseas Investment Fund and these factors would be something they would need to consider.
But Hill said it wasn't just Arvida that was making cuts in the aged care sector.
She said there were no minimum safe staffing levels established in New Zealand, so companies were able to decide for themselves what staffing levels were considered safe, which she said was concerning.
Arvida's general manager wellness & care Aleshia Wansbrough said the change to care teams would further improve the quality and safety of care services and return the community to slightly above pre-Covid care staffing levels.
"Our Attitude of Living Well approach to care is unique to Arvida and takes a holistic approach to supporting the personalised care needs of our residents."
Wansbrough said the changes would ensure caregivers could work across activities and care in households to deliver this care approach.
"Ongoing monitoring of our care model has included adjustments and improvements as per best practice."
Wansbrough said Arvida began a review and started planning for the changes last year.
"These adjustments have been made across several communities before Village at the Park from March this year, and the resulting changes have been met with positive feedback from both our teams and our residents."
