Hobart mental health facility: Roy Fagan Centre in Lenah Valley for sale for $14 million
A Hobart aged and psychiatric care centre where a dementia patient was found with maggots in his wounds has been listed for sale for $14 million – with private psychiatric hospital owners already eyeing-off the property.
Tasmania
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A Hobart aged and psychiatric care centre where a dementia patient was found with maggots in his wounds has been listed for sale for $14 million.
The Roy Fagan Centre at 54 Kalang Ave, Lenah Valley, has been leased by the Tasmanian Government since the property was built in 1999.
But now, the owners are looking to privately sell for the price of $14 million.
The psychogeriatric overnight-stay centre is a specialised facility which has been used to assess and treat elderly people with dementia and mental illness presentations.
Agent Phillip Apelbaum of Health Property & Precincts said the owners had been “very happy” with the response from the market.
Those who had shown “keen interest” in the site so far include a mix of private investors, property trusts, and owner-occupiers including private psychiatric hospital operators.
Those operators, Mr Apelbaum said, were mainly national.
“The inquiry has been beyond expectation,” Mr Apelbaum said.
He said it would be ideal for Tasmania, which was in “strong need” for more overnight stay options for psychiatric purposes, to have the site continue with a similar purpose.
“One thing that became very apparent was the [loss] of St Helens Private … [it] put a lot of pressure on overnight stay facilities … I think that has been recognised [by the private operators],” he said.
“The closing of St Helens [Private Hospital] was pretty disappointing for the people of Hobart.”
The state government ruled out buying and taking over the St Helens Private Hospital – operated by Healthscope – which closed in June this year.
In late 2020, the Roy Fagan centre came under public scrutiny after the Mercury revealed a 78-year-old diabetic dementia patient was found with maggots inside an open wound.
At the time, the incident was described as “outright neglect” by the patient’s daughter.
An independent review was called and in July 2021, the then Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff released the report into what had contributed to lapse in the patient’s care.
“We owe it to Tasmanians … in a caring environment, such as the Roy Fagan Centre, to do much, much better,” Mr Rockliff said at the time.
A Department of Health spokesman said the department currently held a long-term lease on the property, which runs until April 2029.
“The Department of Health is planning for the long-term delivery of services currently provided at the Roy Fagan Centre through the current masterplanning for St Johns Park [Health and Wellbeing Precinct] in New Town,” the spokesman said.
“In May 2023, a draft masterplan was released for St Johns Park which will see the precinct providing expanded mental health, subacute and community-based services to meet future demand in southern Tasmania.
The draft masterplan proposes a staged development over the next 20 years, and stage two of the plan is the development of an older persons mental health facility to replace the Roy Fagan Centre and to coincide with its lease expiring.
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