Lithgow Aged Care has been thrown a lifeline by the Not For Profit, just three weeks after its aged care home’s days appeared to be numbered.
As we reported here, the stand-alone home, 140km west of Sydney, which has 73 residents and employs more than 120 staff, went into voluntary administration last month after losing its accreditation by failing to meet 38 of the 42 aged care quality standards.
A binding agreement has been executed this week to transfer ownership of the home to Respect, which has 12 aged care homes and two retirement villages across NSW, Victoria and Tasmania with over 1,300 residents and 1,500 staff.
Respect does have a history of ‘aged care turnarounds’.
In July last year, Respect took over the Woodhaven aged care home in Lockhart NSW, moving ahead with a $4 million development to increase its capacity from 23 to 32 rooms.
In August 2019, the provider acquired the 73-bed Mt St Vincent aged care home in Ulverstone in northern Tasmania from the St Vincent de Paul Society after adding the Not For Profit St John’s Village in Wangaratta, Victoria, to its portfolio in January that year.
Under the agreement, existing residents will have their contracts transferred to Respect following the sale. The vast majority of staff are also expected to continue to be employed by the provider, with any employees not offered employment paid their full entitlements, according to a statement from the administrators Ernst & Young.
Respect Managing Director, Jason Binder (pictured right), said while the home remained under sanctions which prevent it from taking on new residents, he was confident that Respect’s systems and processes would allow the site to become compliant very quickly.
A planned $10.4 million redevelopment of the site (pictured above) increasing the site up to 108 rooms plus a specialist secure dementia area of 30 rooms will also be completed.
“There has been a series of negative events, but we can see huge amounts of potential and we know we’ll turn the home into an amazing asset for the Lithgow community, and something everyone can be proud of,” he said.
“Its future is not only absolutely secure; it’s going to become a best in class aged care home.”
