Clark warns of `very serious trouble' over gagging

The gagging of an elderly woman in an Auckland resthome is "totally unacceptable" and the facility is likely to face intense Health Ministry scrutiny, Prime Minister Helen Clark says.

Age Concern Nelson says it deals with cases of elder abuse "all the time" but cases of physical abuse are rare. Theft and psychological abuse are the most common cases.

The Health Ministry and police are investigating after a tradesman visiting the Belhaven Rest Home in Epsom on Friday secretly took a cellphone photo of the gagging and reported it. A staff member has been sacked.

Health Ministry staff who visited the resthome within a couple of hours of the abuse being reported found the woman still with her mouth gagged by medical tape. Belhaven specialises in brain injuries and psychogeriatric residents.

On Monday Miss Clark condemned the incident, which she hoped was not the tip of the iceberg.

"Most people who run resthomes pride themselves on the quality of care and the living environment they provide, but this is clearly totally unacceptable," she said on TVNZ's breakfast programme on Monday.

"I would think that resthome is in very serious trouble with the Ministry of Health."

Miss Clark said on NewstalkZB the resthome was likely to have breached several rules.

Age Concern Nelson chief executive Dave Nelson said on Monday that his organisation was "dealing with elder abuse cases all the time". However, "the vast majority do not involve physical abuse".

"What happened up north (at Belhaven) is pretty bad and I would say the whole residential care industry would be mortified that one of the facilities had this happen to them.

"By far the greatest majority of elder abuse happens outside residential care, often involving family members rather than health professionals."

Nelson Grey Power president Gordon Currie said the elderly care services in Nelson were "extremely good". He'd be "very surprised" if abuse was occurring "but we wouldn't know".

Elderly people were part of a proud generation that often did not complain and Grey Power had never asked its members if abuse occurred, he said.

Miss Clark said there were several safeguards in the aged care sector.

"We have laws, we have regulations, we have policies, we have accreditation systems to stop that sort of thing happening."

Senior Citizens Minister Ruth Dyson said the abuse was "abhorrent".

"We need to change social attitudes by raising community awareness about the abuse and neglect of older people. It saddens me that such an incident can occur, but the abuse of older people is often a hidden problem," she said.

Health Minister David Cunliffe has sought urgent information on the case, saying if the facts were proven he would expect the ministry to take urgent action against the resthome.

The New Zealand Herald reported on Monday that the Auckland District Health Board wwas considering moving the woman to a new resthome.

But the owner of Belhaven, Patricia Hooper, said the woman's family were happy for her to stay.

She was "quite safe, quite happy, quite healthy".

Aged in her 70s, the woman was deaf and had lived in institutions all her life.