Hope for Westport families as aged care home expands

Work is set to begin on a desperately needed extension to Westport's only aged care home, with hope it will reunite families.

The O'Conor Home is not big enough for the number of people who need care, meaning many have to go to Canterbury at great stress to them and their families.

This week, the Government announced it would give the home a $2.1 million loan from the Regional Infrastructure Fund.

The chair of O'Conor Home's management trust, Garry Howard, said it now had enough money to start work - likely by 16 November.

"It's really exciting for all the West Coast area, it's something that's been a long time coming," he said.

The home had 68 beds, and the build would add 24, including a dementia wing, he said.

Howard hoped it would mean more people could stay close to home if they needed high-level care.

"It's a big enough change going into daycare let alone moving away from home and family and loved ones. So it's quite critical, this service," he said.

There were currently 18 people on the waitlist for O'Conor Home, with some of them already in care in other places.

He hoped some would be able to come home.

"It just adds so much stress - not only to the person who may have dementia or who may need hospital-level care but to their families having to do a three-day trip to go and visit their loved ones for a few hours in Christchurch or even further south. It's not really humane," Howard said.

The expansion would cost $13.9m.

Not all of the money had been raised, but the loan, alongside a grant of $500,000 from Development West Coast, meant the build could now begin, Howard said.

The project would be a boost beyond the aged care sector, he said.

"We're using as many local contractors as we can so it's good for the building and economics of the Westport area," he said.

The Aged Care Association's Tracey Martin said the district was not the only community struggling.

She welcomed the loan, saying it was very much needed, but said wider work was needed to make sure there was enough care all over the country.