Queensland’s Maranoa Council has gifted 20 aged care beds from the Manaroa Retirement Village in Mitchell to Pinaroo in Roma. It’s "a big win for regional aged care" said the MRC.
Not everyone is happy with the decision. The Maranoa Retirement Village sub-committee are disappointed that the licences were given away, licenses worth $300,000 according to Council estimates.
"We believe only 10 licences should be transferred to Pinaroo at this point,” said the sub-committee in a letter to Council CEO Julie Reitano.
"We believe it would be very short sighted to transfer all 20 licences given the plans outlined by Pinaroo.”
Bruce Scott MP was concerned the licences would be transferred without any recompense or to the Mitchell community.
However Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan disagrees. He believes the ‘logical’ decision keeps aged care places within the region.
"Given that Council will soon be out of the business of residential aged care, and we can't hold onto the places indefinitely, we wanted to make sure that we've done all we can to maximise the number of places available for our community,” he said.
Council passed the decision 9-0, increasing Pinaroo from a 50 to a 70 bed facility.