In a last ditch effort to prevent the sale of parts of the Blue Haven aged care facilities owned by Kiama Council, unions have released a report that paints a dire picture of the privatisation of aged care facilities owned by the LGA.
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The independent report by University of Wollongong professor Martin O'Brien, commissioned by unions representing the workers at Blue Haven, outlines that residents, staff and the community will be worse off if the Blue Haven facilities are in private hands.
Delivered at a meeting in Kiama this evening, United Services Union industrial officer Stuart Geddes said the sell off raised "frightening" scenarios.
Mr Geddes claimed that a sell off would either result in an over-priced, "gold standard" facility, which would price out local residents, or a facility run into the ground at the lowest possible cost.
For the 250 employees, being operated privately would result in workers being moved to the lower paid modern award, the report outlines. The lower pay would intensify the shortage of staff in a region where aged care staff are already in short supply, creating more empty beds in the facility, even as hospitals fill up with patients waiting for a place in an aged care home.
For the community, the financial return from selling the facility would be minimal, the report states, as the real estate market enters a downturn and councillors public comments have discredited the facility.
The reportedly challenging financial position that the facility faces is typical of the wider aged care sector, suggesting that management have faced industry-wide pressures, rather than the performance being the result of individual failings, the report outlines.
The report points out that the facility was profitable in the recent past. Allan Holder, chair of the Save Blue Haven Action Group said the facility provided "rivers of gold" for Kiama council, and that the Council's current attitude to the facility was an "absolute disgrace".
In October last year, council resolved to sell-off the Bonaira aged care centre - part of Blue Haven. A motion to include the Terralong facility was blocked at a meeting in late February.
Kiama council yesterday put on public exhibition the reclassification of the land that Bonaira sits on from community to operational land, to allow the sale to proceed.
Blue Haven resident of 14 years Val Sherlock said the sell off was due to "financial embarrassment" on the part of Kiama council.
"It's an extremely sad situation to be in, but they are the ones that are embarrassed."
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