12. Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) Link to this
to the Minister for Disability Issues
Does she stand by her assurance to the families of Kimberley residents that residents would receive the same, if not better, care in the community?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
My answer is, as I am sure the member will understand, the same as I have just given to the primary question No. 11.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
How can the Minister explain to the New Zealand public or to the family of the intellectually disabled man who was dragged out of bed and kicked on the floor by drunk staff at a Levin community home that he received better care in the community?
Self-evidently, I cannot. That was a disgraceful act. Let us now rehearse the facts. As soon as it happened a doctor was called. Then, soon after, the police were advised. Then, soon after that, the four people involved were given the boot. Three of them happened to be people who used to work, as it happens, in the Kimberley Centre.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I asked the Minister a very specific question of how he can explain that that particular person received better care in the community than at the centre. The Minister failed to address it.
Madam SPEAKER
Barbara StewartIs the Minister aware that the majority of former Kimberley Centre residents require general anaesthetic in order for dental treatment to be performed, and can she assure us that all former residents are, in fact, receiving adequate oral health care?
I regret to advise that I am not up to speed on the dental therapy for residents who are out of the Kimberley Centre. I would be very happy to answer the question if the member would like to put down an oral or a written question around that to the Minister for Disability Issues or to the Minister of Health.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
Why has the Minister failed to act on the concerns of the Kimberley Residents Support Group (Hawke’s Bay), who are worried not only by the lack of quality support but also by the unusually high number of deaths of disabled people who have left the Kimberley Centre, including at least one where there remains a coroner’s inquiry?
It is a matter of fact that a number of former Kimberley Centre residents are elderly. It is also a matter of fact that a change in circumstances can be disturbing to people, which is why this process has been managed extremely carefully over a very long time. It may interest the member to know that just over a hundred families were surveyed on how they thought the transition process had gone. Those survey results were made available to me, the Minister of Health, in January of this year. Seventy-two percent of the families who responded said they thought the management of the transition was “excellent”. A further 26 percent said it was good. When we add 72 and 26 together, we have 98 percent of the people who are involved saying we are doing not badly.
Nathan GuyWhat has the Minister learnt from four incidents involving carers and residents in Kapiti homes in 2006, and now this horrific, drunken attack on a vulnerable disabled resident in Levin; and what assurances can the Minister give to the residents and their families that they will be safely cared for?
This was a cowardly act. It is indefensible. It is something that should not have happened. I hope the cops find the carers, I hope they decide to prosecute them, and I hope the prosecution is successful, at least on the basis of what I know about what happened. It is not defensible. I do not seek to defend it, but it has happened. I will just say again, in case it has not sunk in, that three of the four people who were sacked used to work in the Kimberley Centre, which some people in this House seem to want to revisit.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
How can he be so confident that care in the community is better than care at the Kimberley Centre, as he just told this House, given the drunken staff incident where a resident was beaten up in a community home in Levin, incidents at Kapiti, unusually high death rates in the Hawke’s Bay, and the United Nations investigation into a shocking case of a resident placed far away from his family?
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
How can the member be so confident? That is what the member told the House.
I am not sure what the member refers to regarding a United Nations inquiry, so let me not attempt to answer that part of his question. I am sure about care in the community, for these two reasons. Let me repeat them. I have never found anyone who has been in a New Zealand institution—any patient or client with an intellectual disability, a physical disability, a mental disability, or more than one disability—who wants to go back, not one. So those people have voted to say that institutions are no good. But what is more, I have had the results of a survey of just over 100 families reported to me in January of this year. I am sorry that I find myself repeating myself, but 72 percent of those families said the transition was excellent, 26 percent said the transition was good, and 2 percent offered neither of those accolades.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
I seek leave to table three papers. The first from the Dominion Post of 1 May, “Disabled patient kicked at party”.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
The second is from the Dominion Post of 2 April, “ ‘Shocking’ disabled case referred to UN”.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
The third is a Kimberley residents’ support group paper, “How many Kimberley residents died during the process of closing this centre?”.