Buller Health evacuating some palliative and aged residential care patients due to concerns over potential flooding

West Coast District Health Board is evacuating nine patients from its Buller Health Facility due to concerns with flooding following heavy rain and the impact of the king tide due at 12:45am tomorrow morning.

Buller District Council have declared a State of Emergency due to flooding.

General Manager, West Coast DHB, Phil Wheble, said the decision wasn’t taken lightly, but on the advice of Civil Defence, the DHB decided it was prudent to transfer the most vulnerable patients during daylight hours.

“We are fortunate that the local rest home, O’Conor Home has capacity to take nine residents from Dunsford, our Aged Residential Care ward. We are in the process of contacting families and next of kin to let them know what’s happening.

“The remaining three inpatients will continue to be cared for at Buller Health, and we are contacting their families to keep them updated.

We advise the public to continue to phone their GP for health advice, or Healthline, which operates 24/7 0800 611 116.

Buller Medical, the GP practice in Westport has closed early today.

For all medical emergencies you should still call 111.

Please check in with vulnerable people in our community – friends, family, neighbours who may be alone

All West Coast DHB staff who can safely get to work should continue to turn up for their usual shifts. Anyone who can’t make it should let their manager know as soon as possible.

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