Several rest homes have been put under statutory management this week due to safety concerns, including a patient left without oxygen for several hours in a Feilding rest home.
And the Ministry of Health has been asked to prepare a list of other rest homes potentially in the same league as Auckland's Belhaven, Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said.
On Monday, MidCentral District Health Board (MDHB) appointed a statutory manager to Feilding's Ranfurly Manor after an incident involving a resident left without oxygen sparked a complaint from a nursing consultant, and an audit in early July.
The patient was taken to hospital and recovered, said MDHB funding division general manager Mike Grant.
Many of the problems were a result of the residence being without a senior clinical nurse leader, breaching the contract with the DHB. One option was to terminate the agreement.
"But given the size of the operation, it's in our interest to maintain it as a going concern at this point in time," Mr Grant said.
Ranfurly Manor can house up to 38 hospital and 12 rest home residents. There are currently 37 hospital and 10 rest home residents.
Statutory manager Irene McLean was likely to examine all aspects of the rest home operation, Mr Grant said.
"We're working through what we think will be a reasonably lengthy process in terms of the temporary manager, so it will be weeks if not a couple of months, and we're setting about to appoint clinical staff."
The provider had until the end of next week to reply to the draft audit findings.
There had been no previous formal complaints about Ranfurly Manor, but residents' families had contacted management, Mr Grant said.
The DHB was following up a complaint at another rest home in the region, and would begin an audit process next week.
"We, as DHBs, have been contracting with rest home residences now for about five years - this would be the first time I've put a temporary manager in," Mr Grant said.
"At other times there's been issues, the owners tended to realise it's beyond them a little bit and they've onsold and new providers have come in and they've lifted the standards."
Residents and their families had become a lot more empowered and were more vigilant, he said.
On Wednesday, the Canterbury District Health Board appointed a temporary manager to Christchurch's Villa Gardens Home & Hospital for three weeks after issues over care of its residents were raised.
The CDHB is also undertaking an audit of services provided by Villa Gardens.
Ms Kedgley said fears that five other rest homes could be almost as bad as Auckland's Belhaven home undermined confidence in the entire aged care sector, and to restore confidence the Government should publicly release audits of all New Zealand rest homes.
The National Party has called for spot checks on rest homes following the closure of Belhaven last week after the gagging of an elderly resident.
Health Minister David Cunliffe said while some other rest homes had problems, none were "in the league" of Belhaven, and the vast majority were well managed.
However, he gave a warning to those struggling to meet their requirements.
"Failing to meet basic standards of care for any rest home will result in strong and appropriate action," he told Parliament.
Mr Cunliffe said spot auditing was under consideration as part of a review of how rest homes were audited.
