Retirement villages that look like mini-towns could be coming to New Zealand now the Ministry of Health has approved the care model.

We already have one – the approval follows a five-year pilot of The CARE Village, which opened in the Ngongotaha suburb just outside of Rotorua in 2018.

It was modelled on the Dutch De Hogeweyk​ concept, and designed to replicate a small-scale New Zealand town to create as normal a life as possible for people in care, including those with dementia.

CARE Village chief Therese Jeffs​ said that up until the July 1 approval of the pilot from the Ministry of Health, residential aged care providers had only been able to offer traditional, institutional rest home, hospital and secure level options of care.

“We are delighted the Ministry of Health have accepted and approved our model of care after five years in pilot,” she said

The new permanent contract means any aged care provider in New Zealand can choose between the traditional, institutional model and this new social-relational model we have proven to vastly improve the health and wellbeing of residents.”

The CARE Village campaigned to the Ministry of Health to pilot a new model of care when its lease expired in 2017 and the organisation was faced with rebuilding its facility on a vacant lakefront site it secured in 2014.

“We knew then that we would not build another institutional model for our residents. After researching alternative models of care available in other countries, we decided to offer New Zealand’s version of the world-leading Dutch village, De Hogeweyk,” Jeffs said.

“We could see that building a secure small-scale town would achieve our vision to allow people in residential care to live a normal life.”

The CARE Village was the first in the world to open a village modelled on De Hogeweyk which includes thirteen individual households, each with only six to seven beds.

Each household is themed and run on the different lifestyles New Zealanders are familiar with. All residents are able to move around the village as they wish and are kept safe within a secure perimeter.

The CARE Village is five years old in September and has already enjoyed successes, including being awarded the New Zealand Aged Care Association’s Overall Excellence in Aged Care Award in 2020.

The judges were impressed with the evidence provided proving the model was benefiting each resident’s life and that The CARE Village was economically viable as well as a great place to work, a statement said.

Four out of five New Zealanders know or have known someone with dementia and the number of people living with dementia is expected to almost double every 20 years, and Jeffs said she was relieved other providers can now offer this model.

“There needed to be a transformational change to the way we were caring for people in New Zealand in order for those with dementia to have a better life. The CARE Village has opened the door and we encourage other providers to make the change to this model of care now it is also available to them.”