After a nine year community effort, plans to build Heathcote Dementia Village, to be known as Gilbruk Place, 120km north of Melbourne, have been scrapped.
In a 2014-17 Community Plan, the Heathcote community identified that a community based dementia care village could be an option for their community. Heathcote has a population of just under 3,000.
It was not until 2020 that the community was able to secure the land, but efforts to find an operator stalled despite three years of negotiations with eight providers, The Shepparton News has reported.
In addition, funding was uncertain with the change of government and considering the significant reform in the sector.
Heathcote Dementia Village Working Party chair Peter Main said the aged care landscape has changed significantly in the time the project has been under consideration – discussions began in 2014since the project’s starting point in 2014.
“We are disappointed with this result after years of planning and hard work,” he said, The Shepparton New has reported.
“We understand many people in the community will also be disappointed that the project was not accomplished.
“The project dared to dream of alternate dementia care services in a rural setting to make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia.
“Unfortunately, our aspiration has been stymied by complex systemic issues facing Australian aged care services and the vagaries of government funding of the sector to make investment in the provision of our innovative dementia care service commercially unattractive.”
