The former community care unit at Oamaru Hospital has been turned into a hospital-level residential care service.
Speaking at a health forum this week, Waitaki District Health Services chairman George Berry said the four-bed unit Takaro Lodge was fully occupied.
It had been established to cater for an increasing need in the community and also to provide revenue to help sustain the level of services at the hospital. Essentially, it was for anyone requiring hospital-level aged care, Mr Berry said.
Hospital manager Robert Gonzales said it became the person's home and they were able to move in personal belongings, including furniture.
It was an addition, certainly not a reduction in beds, and was a separate stand-alone unit.
The $1.1 million community care unit, funded by the community and Waitaki District Health Services Trust, was officially opened in May 2007.
Oamaru optometrist Brian Denny said the unit was supported by generous public donations. He asked if they were on the basis that it was a charitable facility, more so than a business. Mr Berry said he did not think so. There had always been transparency.
