Opening of the new aged care facility in Eden has contributed to at least a temporary over supply of aged care accommodation on the Sapphire Coast.
Some centres now have vacancies available for the first time in many years.
But demand for retirement village and nursing home accommodation also appears to be declining nationally as a result of the global financial crisis and government incentives for people to stay in their own homes longer.
“Demand for aged care is truncating nationally,” Keith Waters, CEO of the Canberra and Goulburn diocese of Anglicare, which runs the Bimbimbie and Mariner Park retirement villages and hostels said.
“This is not a problem that is unique to the south coast. But we are feeling the effects of it,” he said.
Imlay House, which has enjoyed close to 100 per cent occupancy over most of its 25-year history, is now advertising that it has vacancies available.
“There’s no place like home,” its ad states, “but Imlay House is as close as it gets.”
“When any new facility comes into an area, it has an impact,” Jan Aveyard, chair of the board of directors of Imlay House, said.
“We’ve also had Mariner Park open at Tura Beach in the past couple of years, plus a range of Federal Government incentives to help people stay in their homes longer.”
Mrs Aveyard said that with aged care funded on the number of people actually in a facility it was important for Imlay House to run as near as possible to its 73-bed capacity.
“Imlay House has a very high reputation and recognition in the community and there may have been a perception that it was very difficult to obtain a place here,” she said.
“It is the first time for a very long time that we have had vacancies so we felt it was important to let people know this.”
Eden Community Aged Care, which opened earlier this month, provides an additional 85 low to high care rooms for the area.
Mrs Aveyard said that a small number of residents and staff from Imlay House would want to transfer to Eden, “and we are making it very easy for that to happen.”
Mr Waters said that some 800 bed licences for aged care facilities across Australia had been returned to the government because of the poor takeup rate.
Instead there was increasing demand from people wanting to stay in their own homes and receive care there, he said.
“Because Bimbimbie has been in Merimbula for 25 years and is well known and respected, it has not really felt the effects of an oversupply of beds.
“But Mariner Park has,” Mr Waters said.
“We built new hostel units there which opened about 15 months ago and have struggled to fill them.”
He said the hostel was only three-quarters full with demand stagnant.
Of the seven independent retirement dwellings built at Mariner Park, two were still for sale.
Mr Waters said the demand for aged care beds had also been affected by the global financial crisis with people unwilling to sell their homes and pay the bonds required for aged care placements.
The drop in home values on the south coast had also contributed to the problem.
“Demand for retirement village accommodation across Australia has fallen by 50 per cent since the onset of the global financial crisis, which is a staggering figure,” Mr Waters said.
Eden Community Aged Care facility manager Charmaine Johnson said that the current oversupply situation was probably only temporary.
“Over all my years working in the acute health care system, it has been a battle to find places for people,” she said.
“People now have greater choice and access than they have had previously and with it the opportunity for more timely admission.”
The Federal Government had been proactive in investing a lot of money in aged care for the baby boomer generation over the past couple of years.
She said that the Eden facility was receiving a steady flow of people seeking residential care.
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