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Australia: Caring for elderly and planning for the future
Manning River Times, June 17, 2003
 High
demand on nursing home care is set to increase in the next decade. Trainee
assistant in nursing Becky Mills, completing a clinical placement at
Bushland Place, is the future of the aged care industry.
Australia - The need for more aged care facilities in the Manning Valley is starting
to be addressed with construction well underway on a new centre at
Kolodong and others in the pipeline.
Greater Taree
City Council's director of planning and building Graham Gardner said the
council had received a "statement of intent” from an outside
developer regarding a new facility at Hallidays Point.
He said a
development application was expected in the near future for a 100-bed
nursing home and a 100-unit self care facility on a parcel of land in the
Hallidays Point area.
Mr Gardner said
there was also the prospect of an aged care facility at Harrington which
has been a long-standing desire for that area.
The Roche
Group, which developed the Harrington Waters estate, has indicated it
would incorporate an aged care facility on land it owned in the area.
Mr Gardner said
council was happy to support these kinds of developments.
Denis Hawkins,
of Manning Valley Senior Citizens Homes, said he would also encourage
those people to come to town.
"Existing
facilities would find it difficult to meet the need over the next 10 to 15
years,” he said.
The expansion
of aged care services in the Manning Valley has been identified by the
Economic Development Planning Group as being a major issue to be
addressed.
Greater Taree
City Council's economic development manager Chris Ryan said factors such
as the availability of land, re-zoning and the search for proponents had
been identified as integral parts of the process.
"We need
to start looking down the track to the needs of the area in 20 years time
and see what needs to be put into place,” he said.
The short-term
need for more aged care facilities is often highlighted at this time of
year.
Manning Base
Hospital general manager Tim Mooney said the Manning and Great Lakes areas
had a shortage of nursing home and hostel operational beds.
"As a
result we have a very high demand on our acute care hospital beds and we
would expect that this demand will become even greater as winter sets
in,” he said.
"Over the
past 12 months we have put in place additional services to cater
specifically for our aged care patients.
"These
services allows patients to be discharged earlier while still having the
continued support from nursing and personal care staff which means they
can remain close to family and friends,” Mr Mooney said.
Meanwhile,
excavation work is continuing on the Warana Place facility at Kolodong
with building works expected to commence on the first 23 independent care
villas in the next five to seven weeks, following some months of
earthworks. When completed the staged project will offer 94 units and a 40
bed aged care complex.
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