Reefton is in shock after it emerged yesterday there are plans to close the town’s rest-home at the hospital.
The West Coast District Health Board said the move to close Ziman House was temporary, due to staffing shortages and Covid-19.
However, numerous well-placed sources said they feared it would never reopen.
DHBs, which give a local voice in the health sector, are about to be disbanded by the Government and will cease to exist from this winter.
The decision to close Reefton was taken at a special meeting of the DHB on Thursday night.
Ziman House has 10 elderly residents. That and the town’s medical centre essentially account for Reefton Hospital.
The response in Reefton yesterday was swift and angry, and some are already gearing towards a repeat of the successful 1980s "Hands around the Hospital" protest, the last time the hospital was threatened.
Without the rest-home, people feared the few remaining services might not survive.
West Coast DHB general manager Phil Wheble said due to the "rapidly increasing number of Covid cases" on the Coast it was moving with urgency to assess each resident as soon as possible.
It would connect with Ziman House residents’ families or next of kin to decide on a suitable alternative rest-home for each resident.
"One of our main concerns is that during the outbreak we will not be able to sustain safe staffing levels, and this is a major risk that could have a serious adverse impact on our residents," Mr Wheble said.
The clinical nurse manager’s role in Reefton is vacant.
Outspoken board member Peter Neame, of Greymouth, was sceptical of the rest-home reopening after Covid.
"There’s never been a reopening of anything because hospital boards generally are starved of cash," Mr Neame said.
The news came as a shock to Inangahua Community Board chairman John Bougen and Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine.
"This is a tragedy for Reefton," Mr Bougen said.
"After all the efforts, all those years ago [to save it], the Hands Around the Hospital ... I don’t know what to say."
He later said it would be disruptive and distressing for the residents and families of Ziman House to be relocated from their home.
Mr Cleine said he would be phoning the board chairman, former Labour MP Rick Barker, in Hawke’s Bay.
"I didn’t know anything was on the cards, it’s news to me," he said.
"I’m not aware of any community process or awareness."
Mr Barker said in a statement the board had to accept the emerging pandemic would drive changes.
The temporary relocation of a loved family member was not wished for and would have its challenges, he said.
Mr Wheble said the residents would not be returning to Reefton until the board knew it had sufficient staff numbers.
In October, the Greymouth Star reported the West Coast had 52 fewer rest-home beds than it had six years ago.
