Taralga Aged Care Facility in Jandowae on Queensland’s Darling Downs is seeking Government support to expand, with all 22 beds full and a waiting list of up to 60.
The community-run Not For Profit, 250km north-west of Brisbane and operating for 40 years, has applied in the last two rounds of the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program (ACCAP) to build a new 30-bed facility. The plan would allow the project to scale to 45 beds using income generated from the initial 30.
The existing facility, built more than 40 years ago for hostel-style accommodation, is no longer fit for purpose. A new site is available for construction. To date, the only funding secured is for renovating staff accommodation to support recruitment of registered nurses and meet the 24/7 RN requirement.
“It is heartbreaking to turn away people because all our beds are full,” Celeste Nelson, President of Taralga Aged Care Facility, told The Weekly SOURCE.
Some older residents are instead moving into the village’s independent living units and receiving Home Care Packages.
In the most recent ACCAP round, four out of five applicants were unsuccessful, underscoring the gap between providers’ ambitions to build and the funding available. With StewartBrown’s latest survey indicating more than half of providers are operating at a loss, Government capital remains one of the few levers to build and refurbish aged care beds.
Until providers can achieve investable margins and private capital returns to the sector, demand for Government grants is likely to grow.
