The original Coleraine and District Hospital was established in 1931 as the
result of a public meeting, which demanded the replacement of an unsatisfactory
private hospital with a community hospital. At this time a Committee was formed
for the establishment of a bush nursing hospital.
A Hospital was opened on the present site in May 1935 with 14 beds and became a District Hospital in 1948 with the number of registered beds increasing to 25 beds in 1954 but reducing to 23 beds in March 1988.
In June 1989, eight of the 23 acute beds were classified to Nursing Home beds to meet the need for long term residential care and a further four Nursing Home beds were approved in July 1994, providing the current total beds as 27, 12 Nursing Home beds and 15 Acute hospital beds.
On Thursday 12th June 1969, Mr W Templeton, the then Shire President, arranged a public meeting to consider an offer of a house from the Estate of Late Miss Lottie Lyons to be used as a home for the elderly. While the offer was not taken up, the issue of residential aged care was clearly a community concern and a Homes for the Aged Committee was formed.
This committee purchased a most attractive site with views over the township, where Strathallan now sits today. The first residents moved in April 1972. Later the house next door became available, and after purchasing it the Homes for the Aged Committee set about minor modifications and named the facility Gordon Mackie – Mackie House.
In 1980 the Homes for the Aged Committee purchased the Coleraine Motel with 12 rooms and added a further 3 rooms in 1991. Mackie Court was built and officially opened in May 1995 providing an additional 26 rooms for low care residential accommodation.
The Committee of Management for the Homes and the Hospital Board of Management amalgamated and then in July 2000 the Coleraine and District Hospital, Coleraine & District Homes for the Aged and Merino Bush Nursing Centre officially amalgamated to form the Coleraine District Health Services.
Merino was originally established as a Bush Nursing Hospital in 1958 after pursuing government funding since 1944 when soldier settlement began to swell the district’s population. The hospital closed in August 1991 and reopened as a Bush Nursing Centre in May 1992.
Coleraine District Health Services also provides 25 independent living units, 14 units at Strathallan, the first units built in 1972. The Board then purchased three units near completion in 1998, on the same site as the hostel. In 2000 the second stage of St. Joseph’s Court independent units was completed offering a new era of modern, private and secure independent living units.
