St Joseph's Home of Compassion to stay open thanks to deal

The 87-bed home will remain open. Photo / File

An Upper Hutt rest home facing imminent closure has been saved by a last-minute business deal.

St Joseph's Home of Compassion, a residential care home, has provided services to older people in the Hutt for nearly 100 years. The 87-bed home also provides dementia and hospital-level care.

But with Covid restrictions adding to severe staffing shortages, the home was set to be closed, with residents relocated.

Now the home can be kept open thanks to a new partnership with Heritage Lifecare.

"Losing this home and the vital aged care services it provides would have been a huge loss to the community," said Heritage Lifecare chief executive Norah Barlow.

"We are working closely with Sisters of Compassion to find solutions to keep St Joseph's operating."

Barlow, a long-term Hutt Valley resident, said she saw the news the home was likely to close and thought "we cannot let this beautiful home and these lovely people get lost to the community".

The home ending up in dire straits came about due to the "absolutely desperate nursing crisis" and healthcare crisis New Zealand was facing, she said.

"We'll move heaven and earth as a larger company to get everything in place and ... [we] have given assurances that we will do that to all the residents and their families."

Their company would help with recruitment and push through immigration issues, she said.

Bernadette McCabe, whose mother lives at the home, said the partnership was "fantastic news".

"It's a big win for those residents who were perhaps a little uncertain of their future," she said.

The biggest thing people could do now was lobby so caregivers and nurses could get into the country to ease the shortage in the elder care sector, she said.

St Joseph's chief executive Chris Gallavin said the deal was "good news for the people of Upper Hutt and for all the families and friends of the older people in St Joseph's care".

"While there is a lot of work in front of us, the partnership provides the local community with a positive way forward."