By Lee Scanlon of 
The Buller health centre Te Rau Kawakawa, which opened in Westport in May 2023. Photo: Supplied
The closed sign is up again this weekend at Westport's beleaguered hospital.
Buller Health's acute stabilisation unit (hospital) will close from 8.30am Sunday until 8.30am Tuesday. Health NZ West Coast has again blamed "staffing challenges".
The closure will be the hospital's third in a month, the seventh this year, and the 11th since Westport's new $21 million health centre opened in May last year.
In June this year, the hospital closed to admissions for 11 days. Hato Hone St John Ambulance extended care paramedics were brought in from Christchurch to help deal with more than 100 patients who turned up during the closure.
The latest shutdown means patients needing admission will again be transferred to Greymouth Te Nīkau Hospital - 100km away by ambulance.
Health NZ West Coast said Buller Health's after-hours urgent care GP clinic would operate as usual Saturday and Sunday between 10am and midday.
Acute care services would be available from 8.30am to 5pm Monday. Health NZ West Coast confirmed the hospital would see patients presenting on Monday, but not admit anyone.
Anyone with an emergency during the hospital closure should dial 111 and ask for an ambulance, the statement said.
Hato Hone St John would continue to provide usual emergency response services. A PRIME (Primary Response in Medical Emergencies) trained clinician would be available on-call to support Hato Hone St John.
Buller Health would continue to provide other services - GP, nurse practitioner, outpatient clinics, allied health and district nursing - during normal working hours.
Health NZ West Coast again referred local people to telehealth services: Ka Ora, which provides after-hours virtual GP consultations (0800 252 672) and Healthify, which provides virtual consults or telehealth between 8am and 8pm (healthify.nz).
Healthline also offers free health advice 24/7 (0800 611 116).
The hospital has been closed for about 25 days and 30 nights since it opened last year.
A patient death last month prompted several questions from the Westport News which Health NZ West Coast refused to answer.
Firefighters and Hato Hone St John were called to the hospital about 6pm on 17 July, apparently to help with a patient. Police later confirmed a Filipino man in his 40s had been taken to the hospital and subsequently died. They said the death was not suspicious.
Health NZ West Coast has refused to say why emergency services were called.
The hospital had been closed for the two previous nights but Health NZ West Coast said it was "staffed and operating as per usual" on 17 July. It refused to provide a breakdown of staff on site or say whether a doctor was available.
Health NZ West Coast's chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Marshall, confirmed to Westport News last month that Buller Health's staffing issues affected patient safety.
Meanwhile, a staff shortage also forced Health NZ West Coast to close Te Nīkau Hospital's urgent primary care clinic at 4pm on Thursday.
The closure was advised on social media shortly before it happened. The post said all other services, including emergency care, remained available. Health NZ West Coast has not responded to questions from the Westport News.
- This story was first published by Westport News.
