Hospice West Auckland to build two-bed inpatient unit

Media Release

18 December 2012

Hospice West Auckland to build two-bed inpatient unit in West Auckland

After 25 years of providing free community based specialised palliative care and support to the people of West Auckland during terminal or life-limiting illness, Hospice West Auckland is now embarking on a new project to build a two-bed specialised care unit in their existing Beach Road premises in Te Atatu Peninsula.

Currently Hospice West Auckland’s premises on Beach Road is used for day programmes, clinics, support therapies and Community Palliative Care team base and administration.

Patients of Hospice West Auckland who require treatment in a specialised care unit are admitted to either North Shore Hospice or Hibiscus Hospice which is not always an ideal solution for West Auckland patients and their families.

Not only are the physical, social, and psychological needs of patients greatly disrupted but the distances which families of Hospice West Auckland patients must travel to be with their loved ones is very difficult, leading to added costs, extra stress and less time with loved ones at an already challenging time.

The new two bed specialised care unit at Hospice West Auckland’s premises will enable Hospice West Auckland to provide urgent respite or specialist care for patients and their families.

Hospice West Auckland Chief Executive Barbara Williams says, “The aim has always been to have a specialised care unit in West Auckland. While this has been difficult for us to achieve for many reasons, we think the two bed unit is a great step towards our goal of a bigger purpose built unit in the future.”

“The renovations in the building for our two-bed unit are due to commence early in the new year. It is proposed that the building will take approximately four to six weeks to complete.”

Unfortunately, for an area the size of West Auckland, a two-bedroom inpatient unit will by no means serve the growing needs of the community. The dream for Hospice West Auckland is to build a dedicated 10-bed inpatient unit in West Auckland. The first step in achieving this goal is to find and secure two hectares of land in the West Auckland area.

As always support from staff, volunteers, donors, sponsors and the local community will go a long way towards helping Hospice West Auckland realise their dream.

Notes to Editor:

• Hospice West Auckland provides specialist palliative care and support to patients and family/whanau in their own home.

• There are currently no beds in Hospice West Auckland’s Beach Rd Te Atatu Peninsula facility.

• Hospice West Auckland has had insufficient funds to enable us to provide beds up until now.

ENDS

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