The Long Drive: 240km round trip highlights inequitable access to aged care

SECTOR UPDATE - Aged Care Association 

The Aged Care Association has today launched The Long Drive, a nationwide campaign highlighting what happens when the care an older New Zealander needs is not available close to home, as years of inadequate funding and planning have left many communities without the aged care services they need.

The campaign is informed by real experiences from New Zealand families and aims to bring the human consequences of inequitable aged care access to the forefront of the election conversation.

Aged Care Association data shows 27 aged residential care facilities have closed between 2021 and 2026, representing approximately 1,120 beds lost across the country. More than half of New Zealand's general electorates have no long-stay psychogeriatric beds, and under the Ministerial Advisory Group report’s “do nothing” Scenario A, the national shortfall in residential care capacity is projected to reach 9,360 bed years by 2037/38.

Aged Care Association Chief Executive Hon Tracey Martin says The Long Drive puts a human face on what can otherwise sound like a system or funding issue.

"When someone moves into aged care, the address may change, but their right to care, dignity and connection should not. The Long Drive brings to life the reality too many families face: travelling long distances to spend time with a husband, wife, parent or grandparent because suitable care is not available close to home.

"No family should have to drive for hours because there is no appropriate care available in their own community," says Martin.

One West Coast family involved in the campaign knows that reality well.

After caring for his wife at home for as long as he could, a Hokitika man faced the difficult decision to move her into secure dementia care as her Alzheimer's disease progressed.

With no appropriate secure dementia care available in Hokitika, she moved to a facility in Westport. The couple had been married for almost 60 years, and for her husband, staying connected meant making the 240-kilometre return journey twice a week to visit her. The fatigue took its toll and, over time, safety concerns on the road meant he had to reduce his visits.

A family member says the experience was not about choosing a preferred facility, but finding somewhere able to provide the care his mother needed.

"It wasn't about choosing where Mum would go. There really wasn't a choice. If she needed that level of care, Westport was where she had to go."

Martin says stories like this show why aged care access must be looked at through the eyes of older people and their families.

“This isn't about families preferring one facility over another. It is about whether the care their mother, father, husband or wife actually needs exists anywhere near where they live.

“Having care somewhere in the system is not the same as having the right care available in your community. 

“We also need to remember who is being asked to make these journeys. Often it is another older person, a husband or wife trying to stay connected to the person they have shared their life with.”

Report reinforces need for action
The campaign follows the recent release of the Ministerial Advisory Group report, A place to grow old: Securing the future of aged care, which recommended major reform of New Zealand's aged care system.

The report reinforces that aged care is under significant pressure, with growing demand, bed shortages, service closures, financial pressure, workforce constraints and carers under strain.

Martin says the report adds further weight to the Aged Care Association's longstanding message that aged care cannot be treated separately from the wider health system.

"Aged care is health care. When appropriate aged care is not available, the pressure does not disappear. It is carried by older people and their families, and it flows into hospitals and other parts of the health system.

"We need a sustainable system that provides the right mix of care in the right places, whether that is residential care, dementia care, psychogeriatric care, respite, recovery support or end-of-life care. Every New Zealander deserves the right care, in the right place, at the right time."

Aged care must be an election issue
With the 2026 General Election approaching, the Aged Care Association is calling on all political parties to set out how they will protect access to quality aged care close to home.

The Long Drive campaign will share real stories from New Zealand families and provide information about publicly available party positions on aged care.

Martin says the question for every candidate is simple.

"What will you do to ensure older people in your electorate can access aged care close to home?

"This is not about telling people who to vote for. It is about making aged care an election issue and asking every political party to be clear about how it will support older New Zealanders, their families and the communities they live in."

Source: Aged Care Association media release

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