After months of waiting, the Lilliane Brady Village has this week finally been granted licences for their 10 vacant beds.
Cobar Shire Council’s Director of Finance and Community Services Kym Miller said while there is still a fair bit of paperwork yet to be completed, approval for the use of the 10 beds was approved by the Australian Government Department of Health on Monday afternoon.
The 10 extra beds/rooms at the Village (which is owned and operated by Cobar Shire Council) were constructed as part of the Cobar Health Service Multi Purpose Service redevelopment with the new hospital opening in January this year.
The 10 beds at the Village have remained vacant since Council took possession of the new rooms in August despite there being at one stage a waiting list of 11 residents who were in need of aged care.
Mr Miller said they were faced with a number of obstructions in trying to get an Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) licence for the 10 extra beds.
He said the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the COVID pandemic had been cited as delaying the annual approval process.
Mr Miller said council had repeatedly pleaded with the Department of Health to try and gain approval for the 10 beds to be used.
He said they made an application for an Off Round licence for one place at the Village Nursing Home and nine places in the Hostel section.
The 10 licences were eventually approved on Monday.
Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has been assisting Cobar Shire in the process and confirmed that the Department of Health had approved the allocation of the additional 10 places at Lilliane Brady Village aged care facility.
“This will support more of our well-deserving seniors in Cobar with aged care options available in their own community,” Mr Coulton said.
As of Monday, the Village had nine people on their waiting list looking for a bed including one Cobar local who has been cared for in aged care in Nyngan for the past month.
Mr Miller said they will now be able start the staff recruitment process to accommodate the extra 10 residents.
