Hospice West Auckland to Sell Original Hospice House

Hospice West Auckland has announced that they will be selling their original hospice property in Woodford Avenue, Henderson to allow further development of services in the area.

The Woodford Avenue land was gifted to Hospice in 1988 by the local Waitakere Council, led by then Mayor Tim Shadbolt, to enable a base to be established for the Hospice Home Care service which had recently started. The Hospice Board at that time were able to arrange the donation of a house for the base and considerable fundraising efforts ensured that the house was able to be renovated and a lovely garden established. Henderson Rotary led the renovations and many local contractors and suppliers provided services for free.

The result was a large house with a garden which was used by Hospice for the next ten years as the base for the Homecare nurses, other staff and patients to use for clinics and day programmes.

However, by 2005, Hospice had outgrown the space available and moved to a larger purpose built building in Beach Road in Te Atatu. The Woodford Avenue house was rented to local community group Plunket for six years, but recently the Hospice Board made the decision to sell the property.

“For 25 years we have been a Hospice dedicated to enabling people to die in their own homes” says Barbara Williams, Chief Executive of Hospice West Auckland. “However, we have grown hugely and we are now looking to expand our services to include in-house care facilities for people who need to more specialised care.”

Ms Williams says the Board is still considering the most suitable land for this purpose but the income from the Woodford House sale will enable more work to be undertaken on this proposal and also ensure that services can be increased.

“Hospice West Auckland has a committed and highly trained specialist palliative care team who provide round the clock care to approximately 170 patients and their families at any one time. 10,031 visits to patients are made each year,” says Ms Williams. “We always have a huge need to secure funding over and above what we receive each year from the District Health Board.”

Hospice West Auckland is, this year, celebrating 25 years of service to the west Auckland community.