Westport aged care expansion project receives government funding approval to start construction

Westport residents currently on the 18-person waitlist for aged care may soon find their options changing, as the O'Conor Home prepares to expand its capacity by 24 beds. The expansion, which includes a dedicated dementia wing, aims to reduce the need for patients to relocate hundreds of kilometres away for high-level care. Construction is expected to begin on 16 November, following the recent approval of financial instruments that finalize the funding package for the $13.9 million project. The access barrier this expansion addresses is geographic displacement. Under current conditions, when a resident requires hospital-level care or specialized dementia support that is not available locally, they are often transferred to facilities in Canterbury, such as Christchurch. For many families, this results in a three-day round-trip journey to visit loved ones for a few hours. Garry Howard, chair of the O'Conor Home management trust, described this requirement as not being humane, citing the significant stress placed on both the patients and their families during the move and subsequent visits. The institutional mechanism enabling this change involves a combination of debt and grant funding. The government has approved a $2.1 million loan from the Regional Infrastructure Fund, which, when combined with a $500,000 grant from Development West Coast, provides the immediate capital required to start works. While not all of the total $13.9 million construction cost has been raised, Howard stated that this specific injection of funds is sufficient to commence the build. The project is designed to bring the home's total capacity from 68 to 92 beds.