New life for old ward in Feilding
The range of health services available in Feilding will expand by the middle of the year following the substantial refurbishment of the former Clevely geriatric ward.
The Manawatū Community Trust, which has owned the building since 2015, is carrying out the work to allow the Feilding Health Centre to grow. It is expected to be completed next month, with services moving in during June.
Feilding Health Centre chief executive Nicky Hart said the refreshed wing was likely to retain the Clevely name and would provide space for physiotherapy, community mental health, primary health nurses and community use.
She said the town desperately needed physiotherapy services, which would be provided by Habit Health.
Communitymental health would move from the centre’s current building into spaces that would be more functional and user-friendly, freeing up more clinical areas for the busy medical centre for GPs and nurses.
The primary health organisation Think Hauora would use rooms for podiatry, dietician and other services.
Manawatū Community trustee and project control group chairperson Liam Greer said the former geriatric wing, which functioned from 1983 to 2005, was a great building that needed little exterior work. But inside, the layout of the 1000-square-metre building was not appropriate for modern health services, and it needed extensive work to bring it up to clinical standards.
‘‘The development aligns with the trust’s mission to promote the provision of health and wellbeing services to the residents of the Manawatū District,’’ Greer said.
The work is being carried out by Colspec, a local contractor that had done the original work converting and extending the adjoining former Feilding Maternity Hospital into the health centre.
Greer said the project had been a challenging one, with builders facing the increasingly familiar pandemic-related issues of transport logistics, labour and materials shortages.
Project manager Alan Davey said the transformation was impressive.
‘‘The building is 40 years old, but when you walk around it now, it feels brand new,’’ he said.
Hart said the health centre team was extremely grateful for the work the trust was doing to support the centre’s growth.
‘‘The redeveloped Clevely wing will be amore suitable environment for the community mental health team and allow for more GP and nursing services.’’