The home and community support services (HCSS) sector is crying out for more training opportunities like Open Minds, Open Doors, following the success of the popular dementia training programme.

Two new qualifications will help provide solid pathways into jobs in the aged care, community support, disability and other healthcare sectors as well as professional development opportunities for healthcare assistants.

Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector* HON JO GOODHEW is impressed by *Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital’s efforts to improve social integration of migrants through its volunteer programme.

Low wages, high workloads and stress outweigh the love of the job for New Zealand’s aged care workforce.

The Industry Training Federation calls for Government to better support training for care and community support workers.

New research findings on the employment of older New Zealand women is to be presented today in Wellington at the Ministry of Social Development, followed by a panel discussion.

Getting away from an institutionalised approach to a more person-centred focus was one of the key messages emerging from the New Zealand Aged Care Association’s annual conference, held last week in Wellington.

Managing public perceptions and remaining innovative were two key themes emerging from the annual Retirement Villages Association (RVA) conference held last week in Auckland.

*The RVA’s annual conference heads to Auckland this year, where, following its much-anticipated golf tournament, it will play host to an array of interesting speakers and topics.*

The recent Careerforce Workforce Development Conference in Wellington addressed pay and training as crucial to aged care’s future, as JUDE BARBACK discovered.

The Careerforce Workforce Development Conference 2014, which will take place on the 20 and 21 May at Te Papa in Wellington, will bring together some of the leading people involved in the development of the carer workforce, and address a range of pertinent topics.

Media trainer PETE BURDON says retirement village operators and aged care providers must adapt to the changing needs of digital news media.

Dementia education sessions have been held for more than 450 health professionals across the South Island during the past 12 months as part of a Primary Care Dementia Education project. 

Mercy Hospice’s Cultural Care Project is helping to address the common barriers preventing families from accessing timely, culturally appropriate palliative care.

INsite recently published an article on the importance of migrant workers to New Zealand’s aged care sector. Here, Skilled Migrant Business Advisor LISA BURDES discusses how employers can help new migrant staff settle into work and life in New Zealand, and Canterbury in particular.

NYEMUDZAI ESTHER NGOCHA-CHADEROPA shares the stories of four Indian nurses working as caregivers in New Zealand residential aged care facilities. Their experiences – at times distressing – differ significantly from their expectations of life and work in New Zealand.

One aged care provider’s initiative to reduce the number of falls by residents is proving very successful.

ACC’s GILL HALL discusses a new programme to support initiatives aimed at reducing falls for older New Zealanders.

Caring in a compassionate and authentic way for our elderly who find themselves in the hospital wing of a residential aged care facility takes a special sort of person. INsite talks to KARLA GOUNDER, a healthcare assistant at Enliven’s Woburn Home in Lower Hutt.

Migrant workers comprise a significant and growing chunk of New Zealand’s aged care workforce. But with global competition at play, what should we be doing to make our aged care roles more appealing for people both from overseas and in New Zealand?

The merger between the Health Ed Trust and Careerforce looks set to strengthen workplace training for the aged care sector.

Ray Lind believes that having a competent and skilled workforce to meet the increasingly complex needs and numbers of our aged population is crucial.

Caregivers are ultimately responsible for people’s lives when carrying out their day-to-day jobs. Are we equipping them with adequate skills, expectations and remuneration to handle this level of responsibility? By JUDE BARBACK.

Employees at PSC Enliven Central’s Coombrae and Chalmers rest homes share with JUDE BARBACK the impact work-based training is having on their jobs and their lives in general.

Director of nursing at Bethesda Care Dr NOELINE WHITEHEAD supports healthcare student placements and says the work of trained HCAs is skilled and needs to be recognised.

INsite asks AVRIL GRANT about her job as head chef at Ryman Healthcare’s Charles Fleming Retirement Village in Waikanae.

BEATRICE HALE reviews Active Ageing, edited by Andrea Principi, Per H. Jensen, Giovanni Lamura (Pub.Policy Press 2014) and finds it has much to offer policy makers and social gerontologists on the under-researched area of voluntary organisations.

A new survey shows that while aged care workers love their job and value the training they receive, low pay levels, high workloads, an ageing workforce and an increasing demand for aged care add up to a concerning picture for the sector. How many more research reports and legal battles will it take for funding and workforce pay levels to be properly addressed? By JUDE BARBACK.

Christchurch-based registered nurse CLAIRE ROSKRUGE is a participant in the Christchurch DHB’s Gerontology Acceleration Programme and is involved in a restorative care pilot for older people within the acute service. INsite asks Claire about her journey into nursing and what she loves about her job.

With the first set of new qualifications for the aged care sector ready to launch, INsite talks to Careerforce’s Penny Rogers about what the qualifications review process has identified so far.

JUDE BARBACK talks to four organisations that are seeing results with changes they have made to their approaches to training and staff development.

While there has been some controversy around the introduction of interRAI in New Zealand residential aged care facilities, St Andrew’s Village in Glendowie, Auckland, has discovered that a flexible approach to interRAI training has made all the difference.

DR HELEN PETOUSIS-HARRIS discusses why influenza outbreaks are more common in aged care facilities and what steps can be taken to prevent and manage an outbreak.

RAY LIND, chief executive of Careerforce, voices his opinions on the need to implement integrated care and unleash the potential of the “unregulated” health workforce.

VICTORIA BROWN shares her doubts about interRAI.

LEIGH KELLY shares the journey she took in establishing Clinical Update (NZ) Ltd and why she is passionate about providing training and education to nurses and caregivers.

CAROLINE BARTLE discusses the advantages of a blended learning approach for training in the home-based support service sector.

INsite asks Cambodian nurse, Rotha Keo, about her reflections on her three-week visit to New Zealand.

A recent Close Up report hailed aged care workers for doing ‘God’s work’ for very little financial reward, but can God’s work really be done by people struggling to read clients’ charts or give out medications? JUDE BARBACK reports.

This year’s RVA conference was all about forward-thinking and fun.