Western Downs Council call special meeting to decide on Tarcoola’s future

The lives of Tara families, now and in the future, hang in the balance of an impromptu council meeting which will determine the fate of Tara’s only aged care facility on the Western Downs.

The Western Downs Regional Council has called special meeting on Thursday, September 1, to decide on the future of the Tarcoola Aged care Facility on the Western Downs. Picture: Supplied

Concerned community members, Tarcoola residents, and their loved ones are waiting with bated breath for the confirmation that the council has worked out an alternative to the closure of the town’s only aged care facility.

Tarcoola Residents Neil Smith, 84, Betty Shepheard, 91, and Jeanette Grimes, 84, said they were devastated to hear the council planned to move them from their home. Pic: Peta McEachern

The Western Downs Regional Council will be voting on the future of the Tarcoola Aged Care Facility at a special meeting held on Thursday.

The council is reportedly working with the not-for-profit organisation Southern Cross Care to take over the council-owned and operated nursing home.

How did we get here?

After a unanimous vote in July, the council announced the closure of the vital 33 bed facility leaving resident’s and their families shattered, heartbroken, and at a complete loss as to where they would be forced to move.

Mayor McVeigh said the council’s core issue in maintaining the facility lied in unacceptably low levels of staffing, particularly senior qualified nursing staff and registered nurses for full time positions. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

The council pointed to a shortage of qualified registered nurses and said the facility would be closed in the near future based on “legal and clinical advice,” despite the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission accrediting the home.

Mayor Paul McVeigh said the council didn’t have confidence Tarcoola could continue to meet ethical and legislative standards of care due to the nursing staff crisis.

“If at any time we were knowingly putting people at risk and something were to happen to one of our residents, we would never forgive ourselves – and I doubt our community would forgive us either,” he said.

A Steering Committee has been doggedly working with the council alongside concerned politicians to facilitate a third-party changeover to ensure the small-town community can continue to age in place.

Member for Maranoa David Littleproud claimed the council were given options to retain the centre, with its closure forcing close to 30 vulnerable residents to leave their town. Picture: Contributed/Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Months before the vote to close Tarcoola the council asked the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to audit the facility as they held significant safety concerns for the care of residents.

“Council has recently identified systemic safety and quality issues at our Tarcoola Residential Aged Care that are of significant concern to council,” a council spokeswoman said.

“The ongoing (staff) problem is the product of several contributing factors and issues faced by the aged care and health industry broadly.”

Detrimental consequences of closure

Some residents and their families told the Chinchilla News they were devastated knowing they’d be relocated more than 200km from the place they call home.

Husband of resident Ivy Hite, 82, visits the love of his life twice a day although when news broke of the closure the 89-year-old’s health rapidly deteriorated from stress, his family said.

Tarcoola resident Ivy Hite, 82, and her husband Ray Hite 89 will be forced to separate if Tarcoola closes. Ray said the couple sold their house to fund Ivy’s stay at Tarcoola when her health took a turn for the worst. Picture: Supplied

Ray’s son Peter Hite said he knew the news of the closure would be detrimental to his parent’s health telling council representatives, “if you do this, you will kill them.”

“If she’s moved away, how many times is he going to be able to visit her before one of them is gone?”

Steering committee member and Tara GP Dr Tim Lloyd-Morgan said once closed, it was unlikely the facility would ever open again.

“There are some keys to the fabric of a small community, the hospital, schools, library – and of course the nursing home is one of them,” he said.

“It’s desperately important that we sustain these facilities. Elderly people have an absolute right to see their retirement days in their own community where they are looked after by people who have very likely known them and their families.”

Tara Medical Centre GP Dr Tim Lloyd-Morgan visits Tarcoola weekly and said he alongside care residents, staff and the wider community were deeply concerned and anxious about the future of the home. Picture: Hayden Smith / Chinchilla News

A handful of residents have already been moved to other facilities across the state, with one being shifted on Tuesday, August 31, to the Illoura Village in Chinchilla which is operated by Southern Cross Care.