The new name of the rest-home is Aspiring Care and comes into effect on October 1.
However, PSO’s other Wanaka rest-home, Elmslie House, and the neighbouring Wanaka Retirement Village, both in Meadowstone, remained on the market and were still for sale, PSO Enliven general manager Michelle van Kampen confirmed.
PSO announced in April it was exiting Wanaka because of services underfunding and staff recruitment and retention issues in a town that is suffering from high costs of living and a housing crisis.
Mrs van Kampen has confirmed PSO will continue providing care services to Aspiring Care under a management agreement with the land, buildings and business owner, Aspiring Lifestyle Retirement Village (ALRV).
PSO and ALRV have been joint venture partners since the rest-home and village opened next to the Wanaka Lakes Health Centre in 2016.
Mrs van Kampen said only the ownership structure was changing. Residents would continue to receive the same care and the staff would continue to be employed by PSO.
The former partners were committed to a smooth transition, she said.
Mrs van Kampen said it had been difficult to make the decision to exit the Wanaka aged-care market, "including the successful Aspiring Enliven partnership".
"We have been advocating for a different funding model to support not-for-profits that operate with low levels of ‘premium based’ private funding.
"PSO is focused on providing services for vulnerable older people who are unable to access affordable aged-care beds, and the exit from our partnership with Aspiring Lifestyle Retirement Village Joint Venture provides us with further opportunities to apply capital in other areas of higher need within the Otago region", she said.
ALRV chairman, James Reid said Aspiring Village was "delighted" to add Aspiring Care to the company’s services in Wanaka and "committed to providing the same high-quality care that was provided throughout our partnership with Presbyterian Support Otago".
Meanwhile, Abbeyfield New Zealand has formed a steering group to investigate a new retirement living option for Wanaka.
Abbeyfield is a charity and has 14 houses around the country, including a shared housing facility for 12 residents in Frankton, Queenstown.
MetlifeCare gained resource consent in February to build a large retirement village and care home at the Three Parks subdivision, while Winton Group has begun building its retirement village, Northbrook, which will include a care home, at the Northlake subdivision.
