7 Dec 2010

Taihape residents petition to keep rest home open

11:15 pm on 7 December 2010

Taihape community representatives are petitioning Parliament to stop the closure of the town's rest home which they say will also put other rural health services at risk.

The rest home and in-patient section of the town's hospital are due to be shut down at the weekend.

The company contracted by Whanganui district health board to provide those and other local health services is in voluntary liquidation because of financial difficulties. The board has said primary health care and maternity services for the area will continue.

A spokesperson for the group fighting the rest home closure, Taihape farmer Les Rowlands, if the services are closed, the core of medical staff which in place on a 24-hour basis will no longer be there for emergencies.

He says the community wants the closure forestalled while a proper analysis and costing of the down-stream effects is carried out.

The petition was to be handed to Labour MP Ruth Dyson at 1.30pm on Tuesday.