Consumer Information

We know everyone is keen to hear how the building works are progressing.

We have navigated quite a few hurdles and delays so far, but great progress is now being made. However, everyone of us will be disappointed to learn that our return to site is likely to be a little later than originally anticipated. The original Program had us returning in stages, with Aged Care and the Acute Hospital scheduled to be first to occupy the site in June/July this year.

As work has progressed it has become increasingly clear that it is not as easy as we had hoped to separate the areas out from each other and occupy one or two wings while work continued in others. To ensure that essential services such as power, IT, fire services etc. are all linked up across the site, we need to keep those services intact and continuous throughout the entire building. If we were to separate the zones from each other it would require these services to be separated also, which would increase the cost of the work as well as cause further delays and disruption.

While we are still working to return to site by the end of the year, a revised Program of Works has the majority of the building works scheduled to be completed by the end of October. Then we need to have all of the occupancy and safety inspections completed and signed off, and all of the furniture and equipment reinstated, before we can return residents to the site and re-commence our clinical services.

Based on all of these factors, we hope to reinstate all of our services on site at the same time which, at this stage, is looking like November 2024.

We will continue to work hard to ensure we are all back in REDHS by Christmas. We are already planning a Grand Re-Opening celebration to welcome the community and our residents back to Rochester.

Karen Laing, Chief Executive Officer

18 March 2024

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