The West Coast District Health Board (DHB) is closing an aged care facility in Westport as occupancy levels continue to fall.
Westport Photo: Buller District Council
The board has confirmed it will shut the Kynnersley Rest Home after about nine months of consultation with staff and the community.
It said rest home occupancy levels were continuing to drop dramatically in the Buller region.
The board said both Kynnersley Rest Home and the long-stay Dunsford Ward in Buller Hospital were in a poor state of repair, and no further government funding was available to fix them or build new ones.
The DHB's Buller general manager, Kathleen Gavigan, said existing Kynnersley residents were expected to be rehoused by 1 October.
She said the establishment of a new rehabilitation support team would create jobs for affected staff.
In June, the Home and Community Health Association criticised a plan to close Kynnersley Rest Home and Dunsford Ward, saying it would put the only other facility in Buller under strain.
