Choosing a rest home

Find residential care in your area

There are 2 websites that give information about rest homes and hospitals. Both provide information about the services rest homes offer and current vacancies.

Eldernet — residential care facilities funded by District Health Boards (DHBs)

Find a rest home — rest homes and hospitals that are members of the Aged Care Association

Gather information about a rest home or hospital

You can find out about a rest home or hospital by:

• visiting the home and talking to the staff and management
• using a checklist to make sure they offer the environment, services and activities you need
• reading the audit reports from the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Services offered by rest homes

Documents the rest home or hospital must give you

Ask for a copy of the Admission Agreement, which:

• explains the responsibilities of the rest home or hospital
• details your responsibilities, and
• includes the code of residents’ rights.

Your Admission Agreement and care plan

Audit reports

All residential care providers must be certified by the Ministry of Health (MoH), which regularly audits them to make sure they provide safe and proper care.

If there is a serious issue or concern, then MoH or the DHB can inspect the home unannounced.

Audit reports rate each home or hospital against a set of standards and suggests improvements where necessary. The reports cover:

• how people in the home or hospital are cared for
• how it is staffed
• what the relationship between the staff and residents is like
• how clinical records, policies and procedures are managed
• the atmosphere in the home, and
• the facilities they provide.

Rest homes — recent audit reports

Who owns and runs residential care

Residential care homes and hospitals are run by:

• commercial businesses — these can be owner-operators or larger businesses which operate homes in one region, or all over NZ
• not-for-profit groups — these include homes run by churches or charities.