Dementia village plans cancelled

THE planned Heathcote dementia village, Gilbruk Place, will not go ahead.

Advance Heathcote president Peter Maine said the Heathcote dementia village working party, along with consultants Bridge Advisory Group, had been unable to secure an aged-care operator.

“Reluctantly, after three years of active negotiation with eight interested aged care providers, Advance Heathcote was forced to conclude the Gilbruk Place project could not proceed,” he said.

“With the arrival of COVID-19 in early 2020, aged care operators were placed under considerable pressure to deal not only with the COVID-19 outbreak, but also the compound knock-on effect placed on their operations and staffing challenges to care for elderly residents.

“Regrettably, negotiations with the potential aged care providers stalled during this time.”

Mr Maine said while Advance Heathcote worked actively with several providers after 2020, other external issues arose.

“Unexpectedly in June 2022, one of the major interested providers withdrew their expression of interest,” he said.

“The combined effects of COVID-19 on operations, service delivery impacts stemming from the Royal Commission into Aged Care and the impending 2022 Federal election, where the future funding model for aged care providers was undefined, made it impossible for them to continue negotiations.”

Mr Maine described the level of community-led leadership and effort that had been put into the dementia village project as extraordinary.

“We are disappointed with this result after years of planning and hard work,” he said.

“We understand many people in the community will also be disappointed that the project was not accomplished.

“However, the unanimous agreement of all parties was the community-based dementia care village model was highly innovative as a workable solution to the complexities in the delivery of aged care in Australia.”

First conceived in 2014 and part of the Heathcote community plan, the village was meant to offer a different approach to dementia care.

Originally championed by Heathcote Health, the project was then managed by Advance Heathcote from late 2019.

Heathcote Health CEO Dan Douglass said a 2019 feasibility study had shown the project was achievable at that time.

“I still think I still think it should absolutely be done,” he said. “I think everything that was in that feasibility study needs to be done to create fantastic dementia care across Australia.

“Without something like this facility, the opportunities that already exist are not going to be realised.

“But I do understand that this is an uncertain environment for aged care.”

Dr Douglass said Gilbruk Place was just one of three key elements of dementia care identified in the feasibility study and the other two would continue to be developed.

“Another was to create a dementia friendly environment in Heathcote,” he said. “The Heathcote Dementia Alliance has been working really hard to create this.”

This involves training and support, including the use of apps such as Verily Connect and the development of care cabins.

These are mobile 1.5-bedroom homes outfitted with supportive artificial intelligence, assistive technology, and design.

Green Care is the third element and is a service that accredits local nature-based businesses as dementia-friendly and enables people with dementia and their carers to experience more natural therapeutic exercises.