Plans for the new building where Raukura now stands, 7 Saint Vincent, Remuera. Photo / supplied
The $5 billion retirement village owner/operator Metlifecare has plans to add higher-level services, including aged-care and hospital-style accommodation, to 10 of its existing North Island villages with one village alone planned to get a $100 million injection.
Opportunities have been identified and residents will be consulted in the plans to offer more services in villages so residents can "age in place", the company says.
Work at eight villages will be converting existing buildings and a further two are demolitions with new-builds. Of the 10 villages, five have some care which will be expanded but at five other villages, higher-level full-time care will be introduced.
"We have identified the opportunity to convert serviced apartments at eight villages into premium care suites, providing fully-certified aged residential care, including rest home, hospital and palliative care," said a spokesperson for Metlifecare which declared $5b of assets in its latest annual report.
Some of the villages already have what the company calls "residential care", meaning aged care and hospital-level services but other villages weren't built like that originally.
So they will be altered. Work is planned for villages where residents do not have hospital-level care now, as well as expansion of services where higher levels of care are already offered.
In addition to those eight sites, the business is demolishing some buildings on two other sites for aged-care and hospital-level services at Somervale at Mount Maunganui and 7 Saint Vincent, Remuera. At Remuera alone, Metlifecare plans to spend around $100m, the spokesperson said.
So the 10-village expansion, new buildings and redevelopment spend totals well above $100m. But the company isn't specifying any exact amounts except in Remuera and at Takapuna.
The Herald has reported on an aged-care crisis, with elderly Kiwis languishing in hospital or at home with family unable to properly care for them because rest homes struggling with nursing shortages have stopped admissions.
The spokesperson said Metlifecare now has a programme under way to extend the services at villages so people can remain living where they are as they age.
At each of the 10 villages where changes are planned or under way, options of four varieties of care may be considered by the company: rest home, hospital, secure dementia and respite/palliative care. Not all villages will get all four levels of care.
Serviced apartments in existing buildings will be converted into hospital-level care at Takapuna's The Poynton and Bayswater in Tauranga.
"Repurposing serviced apartments into care suites like at The Poynton differs from a regeneration project/new build, for example, 7 Saint Vincent, Remuera where we are regenerating an entire building to introduce a care centre," the spokesperson said.
Work is also well under way at Mount Maunganui in the first "regeneration" programme - corporate speak for demolition and rebuilding.
The Remuera proposal for 7 Saint Vincent on St Vincent Ave involves plans to demolish the 17-unit five-level Raukura block on the well-established site below Remuera Rd.
That is understood to have not been greeted with delight by some residents because it will involve some people moving and extensive construction work at the site where around 100 people live. Some have already left Raukura.
Big works are also planned at Hillsborough Heights where there is no higher level of residential care.
Across at Takapuna's The Poynton next to North Shore Hospital, a level-one area in the existing main building will be stripped out and converted into hospital-level care.
"We have initiated plans at two existing villages that do not currently have aged care centres to regenerate existing buildings and in doing so, introduce premium care suites, enabling residents to age in place," she said.
As well as the 10 sites undergoing changes, higher-level care with aged and hospital-style facilities are also planned to be developed at an extra 10 new and as-yet unbuilt Metlifecare sites in the next six years, the spokesperson said, referring to greenfields areas where the business has development plans.
So all up, 20 Metlifecare villages will get the higher-level services.
At Takapuna, the business will spend $5m developing its new hospital on level one of the main building housing ground-floor reception and a café.
Serviced apartments and common areas for residents will be converted in the project to be known as The Suites.
"We intend to have 20 of these care suites located in this designated area on the first floor, with a purpose-built refreshed lounge and dining area and new lift access for ambulances that will keep access to The Suites separate to the main village entrance," the spokesperson said.
That is aimed at giving residents a continuum of care and more choice for those who at some stage may require full-time hospital-level care.
Metlifecare was established in 1984, and 6500 New Zealanders live in its 33 villages. It employs 1700 staff, has 4630 independent living homes, 472 assisted living units or apartments, and 842 beds and suites in its hospitals or care homes, its latest annual report says.
Currently, retirement village residents who become ill and need longer-term full-time care but don't have hospitals in their complexes are often forced to leave and find hospital-level care elsewhere. That is often at another retirement village and it's an issue which has caused problems.
Consumer and the Retirement Village Residents Association have raised issues recently about people who leave villages.
For at least six months, those who leave must pay full weekly fees, halved in some cases only after a half-year of non-residence. They often cannot get their money back easily because it's up to the management to sell the occupation rights agreement to someone else before they will return the cash. Metlifecare stops charging fees immediately once people leave.
"This means residents of The Poynton will be able to stay at that village as their care needs increase, whereas currently with no full-time aged care provision they have had to relocate if they need higher-end care, particularly hospital level," the Metlifecare spokesperson said.
"The Suites will provide 24/7 nursing and care staff, offering rest home-level care through to hospital-level care. We will not be providing secure dementia care at this particular site," she said.
Metlifecare's first regeneration project is at Somervale Village, Mount Maunganui. An existing building there was demolished to make way for the first stage which is a new higher-level care building including 30 apartments, due to be finished by mid-2024.
A relative of a resident in Takapuna's The Poynton said that only about 12 years since they opened, the company had bowed to demand and were adding a floor of care beds.
"The Poynton always positioned itself as apartment glamour meaning if you needed care, you'd have to sell your license to occupy and move somewhere else, at the inevitable loss," the relative said.
The new higher-level care would be a welcome addition to the village, she said.
Architects Peddlethorp had worked on the scheme which was due to be finished in around 18 months, she said. Residents were shown how the areas would look and what was planned.
How many people had paid deposits was not stated but pre-sales said to be 'strong'.