Tarcoola closure: Mayor Paul McVeigh confirms nursing home will definitely close

‘If something happened to our residents, we would never forgive ourselves – doubt our community would either. The Western Downs Mayor has justified the council’s decision to close Tarcoola, which will displace and devastate vulnerable residents.

DONE DEAL: Western Downs Mayor Paul McVeigh said as the owners and operators, the council didn’t have utter confidence Tarcoola was meeting ethical and legislative standards of care. Pic: AAP/Dan Peled

Close to 30 elderly residents at the Tarcoola Aged Care Facility on the Western Downs have woken to the crushing news that, despite the community’s valiant efforts, some will be forced to leave their home and loved ones.

CLOSED: The small regional town of Tara on the Western Downs will lose it’s only aged care facility leaving many residents feeling lost and heartbroken as they scramble to figure out where they will spend their final years, months, days. Pic: WDRC

The Western Downs Regional Council sent a letter to the mailboxes of Tara residents on Friday, July 30 confirming the permanent closure of Tarcoola, nine days after the council unanimously voted to close the town’s only aged care facility.

Some residents and their families have told the Chinchilla News they are devastated knowing they will be relocated more than 200km from the place they call home, tearing apart loved ones and families after close to seven decades.

A Western Downs Regional Council spokesman said the location to which each resident will be moved was up to residents and their families.

Western Downs Mayor Paul McVeigh said as the owners and operators, the council didn’t have confidence Tarcoola was meeting ethical and legislative standards of care.

“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.

“The residents are valued members of our community who deserve the utmost respect, dignity and care – most of all they deserve to be safe.

“I want to be clear. This decision was never about finances. This is about people’s lives.”

HEARTBREAKING: The Tarcoola Aged Care Facility in Tara on the Western Downs has been forced to close because it legally can't run with the amount of staff on the roster. Pic: Supplied

Mr McVeigh said the council would continue with the closure process, and carefully, methodically, and respectfully move the residents with the help of a transition manager.

“At the same time, we are not giving up on aged care solutions for Tara,” he said.

“We are still working on options to allow ageing in place in Tara… but realistically this is not something that will happen quickly.

“We are not able to say anything further as we are bound by confidentiality agreements.”

Mayor McVeigh reiterated 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.

“(Since February) we continued with efforts to recruit clinical leads and qualified staff… we approached 18 recruitment agencies to assist us,” he said.

“We’ve battled through with the help of agency nurses. While we appreciate the contribution of agency nurses, they typically stay for four to eight weeks and then move on.

“This revolving door of skilled nurses results in a lack of continuity in our leadership and increases the risk of harm.”

HEARTBROKEN: Tarcoola resident Ivy Hite, 82, and her husband Ray Hite 89 will be forced to separate if Tarcoola closes. Pic: Supplied

Mr McVeigh said the council had been in regular contact with state and federal governments, along with the Darling Downs Health Service for help to recruit staff.

“The federal health department attempted to get us staff from a surge workforce that had been put in place for COVID emergencies. Unfortunately, they could not secure this,” he said.

“The DDHS… offered to give us nurses from the hospital system. However due to staff shortages they had to withdraw this offer.”

Mr McVeigh said the council was also concerned about the health and wellbeing of the staff at Tarcoola, which was spread so thin that if someone called in sick clinical staff would have to work back.

“We currently have no capacity to offer staff annual leave or training.

“We were facing a situation where there would be only four permanent registered nurses filling the 11 clinical positions we needed to have in place. That is 64 per cent permanent clinical nursing vacancies.”