OCA - Oceania Healthcare

[Hectorplains]

Holy hell, that poor old fella. 

[Basil]

Absolutely shocking and by no means a completely isolated incident.
Happened in 2019, not sure why its making headlines 5 years later ?
Anyway, since then old folks can rest easy because in 2021 Oceania launched their "Believe in better "marketing" campaign where they strive to be better.
So... everyone can rest easy because they can believe in better but then in 2022 there's this, another death through gross negligence and lack of proper care https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/472492/oceania-care-apologises-for-shocking-treatment-of-woman-in-one-of-its-rest-homes
Surely another isolated incident and I remember from my time as a shareholder we were all told about
Oceania's infection control procedures and how good they were but oh dear...just very recently another 6 died
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/whitianga-rest-home-influenza-outbreak-six-dead/HJUC2B4US5DNTJEOHGJTLUWH6I/

Believe in better just creative marketing with no real substance behind it ?  You be the judge.

To the best of my knowledge, and Breezy, feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but last time I looked, Arvida had a much higher percentage of their care facilities on the gold standard 4 year MOH review.  If you really want better for your elderly relative, maybe you are better to go to Arvida.

[Teitei]

Absolutely shocking and by no means a completely isolated incident.
Happened in 2019, not sure why its making headlines 5 years later ?
Anyway, since then old folks can rest easy because in 2021 Oceania launched their "Believe in better "marketing" campaign where they strive to be better.
So... everyone can rest easy because they can believe in better but then in 2022 there's this, another death through gross negligence and lack of proper care https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/472492/oceania-care-apologises-for-shocking-treatment-of-woman-in-one-of-its-rest-homes
Surely another isolated incident and I remember from my time as a shareholder we were all told about
Oceania's infection control procedures and how good they were but oh dear...just very recently another 6 died
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/whitianga-rest-home-influenza-outbreak-six-dead/HJUC2B4US5DNTJEOHGJTLUWH6I/

Believe in better just creative marketing with no real substance behind it ?  You be the judge.

To the best of my knowledge, and Breezy, feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but last time I looked, Arvida had a much higher percentage of their care facilities on the gold standard 4 year MOH review.  If you really want better for your elderly relative, maybe you are better to go to Arvida.

Goes back to how and why Oceania was set up in the first place?

Oceania was put together by Macquarie in line with their strategy of aggregating businesses and assets, to flick onto the market for a profit. There's no real vision or underlying philosophy behind the company - a lot of corporate speak & jargon with one single aim - exit for a profit.

[Basil]

To be fair, the "believe in better" marketing slogan was created in 2021, long after Macquarie exited.
There has to be compelling reasons why the market is shunning OCA care suites despite them having record numbers, "several hundred" for sale.  The extremely sluggish sales suggest the market thinks "believe in better" is exactly what you said, nothing but corporate marketing speak with little or perhaps even no substance whatsoever behind it. 

[Untamed]

OK, I'm trying to be the better person so I'm not going to address this to anyone in particular but I need to say this.

Firstly, dragging an incident that happened in 2019, into this OCA discussion, is pretty damned unfair in my opinion. That is six years ago, and a shitload of water has flowed under the bridge since then. Anyone bringing that up now is simply doing so as "ammunition" for their own agenda.

Secondly, guess what? Our little rest home has currently got a "flu outbreak" too. We have had around six residents in isolation for a week. DO NOT jump to the conclusion that an outbreak of flu, or anything else for that matter, is because of staff negligence or lack of infection control. In the vast majority of cases it is not. Residents come in and out of their rest "home" just as you and I do. They have visitors, they go to church or shopping or out for coffee. They are human beings, living their lives and picking up bugs is part of life. NOBODY can prevent that from happening. As for deaths, fortunately we have not experienced that but facilities who provide hospital level care are always going to be susceptible to deaths, as the residents they are caring for generally have significant health issues/conditions already. Infection control is vitally important, but people who are unwell, stand a high chance of dying, even when infection control procedures are followed to the letter.

SO please ... think about what you are posting, and think about how judgmental you are being about some of this. Unless you have worked in aged care, you literally do not know. Do you really think we want our residents to be unwell and/or die? They are part of our family! So just quit using stories like these two, to support your negative impressions of OCA.

I really wish I could bring some of you to work with me for a week. I guarantee by the end of the week you would be at least partway to "getting it."

[Basil]

Like you, I am curious why a 2019 incident was all over the news yesterday?  The fact is this is not a completely isolated incident and there have been others including 6 deaths as recently as February 2024.

I am also suggesting there is no evidence that OCA's care is any better than anyone else's and suggesting their woeful care suite sales is ample evidence the general public thinks likewise and that their marketing slogan of "believe in better" has no substance behind it.   

Creative B.S. marketing slogans with no substance behind them is one of my pet dislikes but OCA is certainly not alone in this.  Fact is a lot of marketing slogans are nothing but a load of nonsense.

[Breezy]

Nothing out of the ordinary to see here and a few years ago a local SUM village had 20 residents die during a winter due to a flu outbreak, didn't make the news.

[Hectorplains]

Like you, I am curious why a 2019 incident was all over the news yesterday? 

...because Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper's report into this was released on Monday.   

[Buzz]

Like you, I am curious why a 2019 incident was all over the news yesterday?

It's because the report on the incident was released on Monday. Five years to do a report! LOL. "Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper found Oceania Care Company Limited in breach in a report released on Monday."

Anyway, all just fodder for negative nancy's to dine out on.

[Basil]

Five years to do a report!

Must have been commissioned by the Labour Govt lol

[Hectorplains]

Not sure about that, grinding axes seems to be an addictive past time for the bored. I could give countless stories like those quoted above from many different retirement villages and  companies but I wouldn't waste my time, if someone can't figure out that stuff like this happens sector wide then they need a brain transplant.

It's not the countless stories, that count.  OCA's bad press is unlikely to be good for their sales.  For the public, as Lee Atwater famously said, "perception is reality."  If you Google News search "Oceania Health Care."   The first hit is the "litany of failures" report.  Of the 9 others on the first page, 4 are negative (all variations of the flu deaths story.) 

The "litany of failures" is a particularly problematic phrase, as it echoes Mahon's 1981 "litany of lies."  Rightly or wrongly, that strongly evokes an association to dishonesty and coverups. 

[BlackPeter]

It's not the countless stories, that count.  OCA's bad press is unlikely to be good for their sales.  For the public, as Lee Atwater famously said, "perception is reality."  If you Google News search "Oceania Health Care."   The first hit is the "litany of failures" report.  Of the 9 others on the first page, 4 are negative (all variations of the flu deaths story.) 

The "litany of failures" is a particularly problematic phrase, as it echoes Mahon's 1981 "litany of lies."  Rightly or wrongly, that strongly evokes an association to dishonesty and coverups. 

OK - I googled it, and it was on number 26 (on the third screen).

But hey, who knows which information rabbit hole others subscribe to - if people only look for disaster stories, maybe it comes up earlier for them.

Looking at the story itself - members of my family had previously comparable and worse (well, not the outcome, but the lack of care) experiences both in NZ hospitals - in private care as well as in the public hospital.

It is a sad reflection on our health system that resources are overstretched and for some reasons are nurses from some countries with very patchy training standards (like South Africa) allowed to work here while nurses from countries with good training standards are not.

One of my relatives didn't got after surgery support for hours in a private hospital in Christchurch, and given that nobody reacted to the bell, she had to remove her infusion herself and than crawl to the toilet. That's gold standard private Care in New Zealand for you.

On another occasion she was with her immune system down (day 7 of Chemotherapie) and an life threatening infection in the public hospital in isolation. Sign at the door: Only enter with protective clothing and mask.

In came the cleaning staff without any protective clothing (and wearing their normal road shoes) and just waved the dust in the room from one side to the other.

So - yes, our healthcare standards in NZ are third world, and while most of our nurses are well meaning, not all staff is competent. However - picking just one of these shocking stories and smearing them on one particular care provider is just sensationalist. I have not seen any evidence that the care standard at Oceania is any worse than in any of the other care providers.   
 
Pretty low to sensationalise this.

[Azz]

OK - I googled it, and it was on number 26 (on the third screen).

Did you News search? It came up first for me.

[Hectorplains]

Try Google News as my post clearly states.  I'm not sure what the sensationalism is? Should the media not have reported on this outcome?  Sounds like your relative got a poor deal.  Is that indicative of NZs 3rd medical status, or is that sensationalism to extrapolate such a long bow?

[BlackPeter]

Try Google News as my post clearly states.  I'm not sure what the sensationalism is? Should the media not have reported on this outcome?  Sounds like your relative got a poor deal.  Is that indicative of NZs 3rd medical status, or is that sensationalism to extrapolate such a long bow?

I could tell you some more of these stories from family and friends, but just follow the media - you hear every other month or so about somebody who died either because they have been mistreated or ignored in the NZ health system. Outcome is typically at best a "Sorry" to the relatives and then we just continue as normal. Having observed the white wash mechanism of the system myself - I can guarantee you that what you hear is only the tip of the iceberg. That's not sensationalism, this is just the way it is.

The cited Oceania story is neither unusual nor remarkable for the NZ Health system. Maybe bad luck for the patient, but this is all it is.