Otumarama: New premises and a new place to stand
Acquisition marks the biggest capital investment in more than 10 years
On 31 March 2025, Te Piki Oranga became the new owner of the Otumarama site at 199 Nayland Rd in Stoke, Nelson.
The former rest home and geriatric hospital, owned by Oceania Healthcare, has been vacant since August 2023. Over the next 6-8 months, starting in April, Te Piki Oranga will undertake a project to open Otumarama as a health hub for whānau (service users) in the Whakatū / Nelson and Waimeha / Tasman region.
To achieve this, kaimahi (employees) and services will be relocated and consolidated from five leased sites in Bishopdale and Richmond.
Te Piki Oranga Tumuaki (General Manager) Anne Hobby says that the acquisition is the most significant capital investment for Te Piki Oranga in the Māori healthcare provider’s 10-year history.
“Otumarama is a place where we can continue to service the community, be fit for the future and grow according to the needs of whānau – as we are doing with our expansion into kaupapa Māori maternity and early childhood services last year,” Anne says.
“With the completion of refurbishment and site improvements, Otumarama will become our new headquarters, a tūrangawaewae (place to stand) and a welcoming hub of clinical, non-clinical and kaupapa Māori services.”
A positive development for hauora Māori (Māori health)
Te Piki Oranga board member Keith Palmer informed stakeholders at the annual general meeting in November 2024 that Te Piki Oranga was able to purchase Otumarama sustainably because of the organisation’s healthy position in terms of cash, liquidity and surplus.
Tumuaki Anne Hobby says that by relocating kaimahi and services from five locations into one Otumarama will realise cost-efficiencies – a mortgage instead of lease fees, economies in consolidation and less expenditure on venue hire, for example.
“Otumarama will realise a long-held intention for Te Piki Oranga – for Whakatū and Waimeha kaimahi and services to be together as we were during our first year in 2014 at Whakatū Marae before Te Piki Oranga outgrew this much-loved location,” Anne says.
“Te Piki Oranga acknowledges our iwi shareholders, Board of Directors and senior leadership team for their confidence in our strategic long-term planning. We acknowledge Nelson City Council for their contribution to the project, and Oceania Healthcare also.”
An aerial view of the Otumarama site at 199 Nayland rd.
Project timeline
Late August 2023: Oceania Healthcare closes its rest home and Otumarama becomes vacant.
October 2023: Te Piki Oranga commences due diligence to determine the suitability of Otumarama as a health hub.
22 November 2024: Te Piki Oranga announces at its annual general meeting that it expects to be granted resource consent.
March 2025: Te Piki Oranga receives resource consent from Nelson City Council to change the use of the site from a geriatric hospital and rest home to a Te Piki Oranga health hub, including use as a general hospital and for maternity services.
31 March 2025: Te Piki Oranga finalises acquisition of Otumarama from Oceania Healthcare.
31 March 2025: Te Piki Oranga iwi shareholders are informed about the finalised acquisition.
From April 2025: Communications begin to inform stakeholders, Otumarama neighbours on Nayland Road and the public.
From April 2025: Plans for building refurbishment and minor earthworks will be finalised and undertaken over the next 6-8 months.
From 1 July 2025: Te Piki Oranga will relocate staff and services to Otumarama; services will start to be provided.
Questions and answers
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Te Piki Oranga will relocate staff and services from five leased sites in Bishopdale and Richmond into its refurbished Otumarama premises. These include, but are not limited to:
Te Piki Oranga head office
Te Puāwai he Kākano – maternity and early years services
Ngā Pūkenga Atawhai – registered nurses
Mātanga Tapuhi – nurse practitioners
Well Child Tamariki Ora nurses
Ngā Pūkenga Hauora Hinengaro – mental health clinicians and counsellors
Ngā Pūkenga Toitu Te Ora, a Waipiro me Tarutaru Kino – alcohol and other drugs counsellors
Nga Pūkenga Manaaki – community support navigators
Te Pae Oranga – iwi community panels (restorative justice)
Kaimahi-a-iwi – social workers
He Tangata – driver licencing services
Te Hā Aukati Kaipaipa – smokefree (quit smoking) coaching
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Te Piki Oranga provides Māori health and wellbeing services – provided by Māori for Māori, but not exclusive to Māori.
In the 2023 / 2024 financial year Te Piki Oranga had 4,323 people enrolled for its services, 70 per cent of whom were Māori.
Services are available through a mix of self-referral, walk-in and referral by GP (doctor) or other healthcare practitioner.
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Until it closed in late August 2024, Otumarama was the site of an aged care facility (rest home). This means that much of the buildings and site are able to be repurposed as a Te Piki Oranga healthcare hub with a compatatively small amount of refurbishment. Some earthworks and site development will be undertaken from April 2025 for approximately six to eight months but these are not expected to disrupt nearby residents, businesses or schools.
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Te Piki Oranga anticipates that Otumarama will be a busy healthcare hub operating during standard daytime hours for a facility of this type.
In order to maximise use of the site, changes will be made to carparking configuration, within the limits of our resource consent.
There will be no immediate effect on parking already allocated to Nayland Rd residents and nearby schools and businesses.
Further to this, Te Piki Oranga will encourage staff to cycle, walk or scooter to work where feasible as Otumarama is accessible from the Railway Reserve cycle and walkway.
