Caring for the carers: About time work is recognised

Little can be worse than seeing a loved one in distress, need, in fragile or declining health, or crippled with a condition that robs them of the chance to lead a full and sometimes meaningful life.

But this is the sad reality for almost 500,000 New Zealanders working unpaid at home caring for an ill or disabled family member.

It must be heartbreaking to watch loved ones who may be robbed of their mobility, memory, personality, speech, bodily functions.

Although there will be love and compassion at the heart of the role, there must be huge frustrations, too. It will be time consuming, often thankless, unseen work, physically and emotionally draining.

All that before the financial toll is even considered.

There has been some practical support for carers of family members, but most say it has been nowhere near enough, and the fact they have not been paid for their work means there has often been a huge cost to them — financially and personally. Careers have been forfeited, social connections sacrificed, family relationships strained, mortgages unpaid or renewed, nest eggs spent, debts accumulated.

Carers are welcoming, therefore, the Government’s announcement this week of law changes that mean partners and spouses will now be paid up to $25.50 an hour to look after ill or disabled family members. Previously, under the

Funded Family Care policy, spouses and parents could not be paid to care for family members — but other family members were paid a minimum wage.

Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter, who is leading the issue, calls the change a “kinder and fairer agreement with carers”.

It is about time such vital work is acknowledged and enabled.

The expectations on family as our population ages are only going to increase. There must also be a sustained focus on how we manage that.

Not everyone will be willing or be able to be a carer for a loved one — paid or not.

Choice is important to people — carers and their “patients” alike — who must feel like they have often been robbed of it, along with their dignity and sense of worth.

We must, therefore, also ensure there are enough choices of goodquality rest homes, dementia units and the like — with appropriately remunerated staff.

That has become more achievable thanks to Kristine Bartlett’s hard-won 2017 pay settlement on behalf of rest home workers and similar carers.

Some may argue the costs of both settlements are unmanageable. Yet surely the costs of ignoring the plight of an ageing and infirm population, and running into the ground the committed, hard-working and loving people prepared to care for those in need are far higher in the long term.

This will be money well — and fairly — spent.