Wellington’s Sprott House to come under ownership of The Selwyn Foundation

Charitable trust, The Selwyn Foundation, and single site residential aged care and independent living provider, Sprott House Trust, have entered into a conditional agreement, with a view to Selwyn taking over the iconic Sprott House village in Wellington.

New Zealand-owned and with its head office in Auckland, The Selwyn Foundation has been a pioneer of the retirement village model and of residential aged care in this country since 1954. It provides rest home, hospital and dementia care and independent retirement living across eight sites in the upper North Island as well as community day centres for older people. The Foundation’s charitable goals are centred on key issues that affect older people’s wellbeing and potentially make them vulnerable: the lack of affordable housing, loneliness and social isolation and financial hardship.

Sprott House has a long heritage of providing quality care. A registered charity, it was first established in 1898 by the Anglican Diocese of Wellington to provide care for young women and children, becoming a residential aged care home in 1951. Set in just over three quarters of a hectare of mature gardens in the residential heart of Karori, the site comprises 13 independent living villas, a 73-room care facility (rest home and hospital) and a purpose-built, dedicated secure dementia care unit for 24 people.

Selwyn Acting Chief Executive Officer, Jason More, says: ‘This is an excellent opportunity for both The Selwyn Foundation and Sprott House Trust, who have many similarities in terms of our culture, Anglican background, goals, general mission and values.

‘The agreement will enable The Selwyn Foundation to have a presence in the Wellington market for the first time, complementing our existing core business activities in Auckland, Northland and in the Waikato, and to expand our outreach services to a new community of older people.’

Sprott House General Manager, Chris Sanders, says: ‘This heralds an exciting new era for Sprott House and resolves the financial sustainability issues that were increasingly a problem for us as a small provider in the wake of recent pay equity and other new legislation.

‘The relationship with Selwyn, which is a much larger operator, will respect and honour the Sprott House heritage and allow us to go forward in a different way in the future. It will also ensure that the Sprott House Trust is better able to invest in its charitable aims which it’s been unable to do up until now.’

Both providers are now working over a transitional period to prepare the Sprott House business for the change in ownership, which is anticipated to complete on 1 October 2018.

Jason More says: ‘We’re very much looking forward to welcoming Sprott House to our Selwyn family and to working to ensure we can meet the needs of a new community of older people.’

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