Elderly relocated after rest home closes its doors

Less than five weeks after announcing it was to shut down, the doors have closed on the Aubert Home of Compassion.

The Sisters of Compassion, who own the rest home complex, decided to close the facility after receiving an engineers' report which said two-thirds of the building fell well below the minimum 33 per cent of the building code, making the structure unsafe in a moderate earthquake.

A total of 56 residents were affected by the decision and the last of them was moved out this week.

Of those, four have moved out of the Wanganui district.

Andrea Bunn, Whanganui District Health Board older people portfolio manager, said the other 52 residents had been relocated to other aged care facilities within the region.

Mrs Bunn said while other residential care hospital and rest home beds were expected to remain tight for the next few months, there were enough beds available to accommodate the residents.

She said the closure and relocation process had gone smoothly but that could not have happened without the support the WDHB received from the residents and their families.

"It hasn't been an easy time for anyone and we know how unsettling it has been for the Home of Compassion community in particular," she said.

About 80 staff were employed at the Home of Compassion but Mrs Bunn said one of the heartening aspects of the closure was seeing those staff redeployed to other residential homes.

She said another development had been the setting up of a working group, which included clinicians, and which was actively progressing "enhanced packages of care" as alternative options for patients who wish to, or could, remain living in their homes or alternative residential options.

These care packages had been designed to take some pressure off the residential bed situation.

Mrs Bunn said thanks was due to many groups and organisations that had helped coordinate moving the residents from the St John's Hill home and making it possible for most to remain in Wanganui.

Some rest homes had gone so far as to reconfigure their facilities to accommodate more residents, particularly those with higher needs. When they announced the decision to close the Home of Compassion, the sisters said they had considered other options to keep the facility operating but decided it would be uneconomic to bring the building up to standard.

The complex provided a total of 22 rest home and 34 hospital-level care beds.