Mercy Place Woree aged residents will be relocated before closure

Representatives from a Cairns aged care home are meeting with residents and their families to discuss the future after it was confirmed the facility was no longer fit for purpose and will close.

AN aged care company has moved to assure the community that affordable and suitable accommodation will be found for all residents when one of its Cairns facilities closes.

Mercy Health confirmed this week that Mercy Place in Woree was no longer fit for purpose and would be closed. The company also has a facility in Westcourt.

“There is a capacity for some Woree residents to be moved to Mercy Place Westcourt,” a Mercy Health spokesman said.

“We are meeting with Woree residents and their families to ascertain their preferences and to discuss how best to meet each resident’s assessed needs for care and accommodation.”

The Mercy Place aged care facility in Woree, operated by Mercy Health. will be closed down.

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The spokesman confirmed that existing staff at both Mercy Place Woree and Mercy Place Westcourt had been asked to “submit an expression of interest for a position in the new roster at Mercy Place Westcourt”.

Mercy Health declined to clarify how many residents and beds there were at both facilities but said there were not enough beds at Westcourt for all Woree residents.

“There are sufficient available residential aged care beds across all providers in Cairns and we do not expect any difficulty in helping all residents to find new suitable accommodation,” he said.

“The difficult decision to close Woree was not based on issues of funding sustainability or viability.

“The decision was made based on the age and limitations of the building.”

Rebecca Pacey, director of people and corporate services at Infinite Aged Care said they had capacity to rehome residents at their Edmonton, Edge Hill and Caravonica aged care facilities if need be.

“Depending on their requirements, and following a clinical assessment, we would be able to admit people very quickly,” she said.

“We’ve had some early discussions with them about helping with this, and they would have had multiple other providers reaching out to them as well.
“Ultimately it will be a choice for the family’s as to what suits them best … but we’re very happy to help them.”

Originally published as Mercy Place Woree aged residents will be relocated before closure