Reefton Hospital to reopen if staffing levels safe, health chiefs say

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Reefton Hospital to reopen if staffing levels safe, health chiefs say

By Amanda Cameron
2 minutes to Read
Reefton Health [Image: Google Streetview]
Reefton Health Hauora Inangahua was formerly known as Reefton Hospital. [Image: Google Streetview]

“There is absolutely a commitment to reopen Zimon House but it is on the proviso that we can provide safe and appropriate care” – outgoing DHB chief executive Peter Bramley

Health chiefs on the West Coast are “absolutely” committed to reopening Reefton Hospital after its sudden closure two months ago – as long as they can secure safe staffing levels.

West Coast DHB chief executive Peter Bramley, who will head health services in the South Island during the first six months of the new health system regime, gave the assurance to board members at their final gathering last Thursday.

Proviso on staffing 

“There is absolutely a commitment to reopen Zimon House [the aged-care facility at Reefton Hospital] but it is on the proviso that we can provide safe and appropriate care,” Dr Bramley said.

“The key to that is, in fact, the right nursing and healthcare assistant mix. We can’t open that facility till we can have reassurance of the right staff for safe care.”

The DHB “temporarily” closed Zimon House in March, shifting the ten elderly residents to private resthomes in Greymouth, Hokitika and Christchurch.

Officials said it was to avoid a care crisis that could result if nursing staff fell sick with COVID, but the sudden move sparked concerns that the DHB was planning to close the care home for good.

Higher staffing levels required 

West Coast DHB chair Rick Barker told the board that Zimon House was registered as a private hospital so required higher levels of staffing than if it was a resthome.

A hospital-level aged-care facility for ten patients requires 5.6 FTE registered nurses, the meeting heard.

The provision of aged residential care on the West Coast has been “precarious”, with recent instances of hospital bed-blocking caused by aged residential care facilities being unable to accept residents, members heard.

West Coast general manager Philip Wheble said the rooms and bathrooms at Zimon House had been refurbished in anticipation of its reopening, new floor coverings were in place and new equipment had been secured.

In March, the DHB said the facility would reopen in June when the peak of the pandemic “should have passed”.

Once thriving 

Once a thriving cottage hospital, Reefton Hospital – renamed Reefton Health Hauora Inangahua in March – comprises Zimon House, a palliative care room and GP rooms for locums employed by the DHB.

Dr Bramley, who will take up the role of interim regional director of Te Wai Pounamu on 1 July, said: “We’re absolutely committed to strengthening the health services that we provide for communities like Reefton and others across the coast.”

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