Respect Aged Care acquires Mt St. Vincent Nursing Home

St. Vincent de Paul Society Tasmania has announced it has sold Mt St. Vincent Nursing Home & Therapy Centre in Ulverstone to the experienced not-for-profit aged care provider, Respect Aged Care; a provider with over 50-years’ experience offering care across Tasmania and Victoria.

St. Vincent de Paul Society’s CEO, Ms Lara Alexander, said with the Australian Government’s new Aged Care Quality Standards, which commenced on July 1, the Society believed it was the right time to transfer Mount St. Vincent so the Society could concentrate on other priorities.

“As a stand-alone facility, it is becoming increasingly difficult to carry the costs associated with maintaining the quality standards and all other compliance costs resulting from the new Aged Care environment. This is a challenge facing many stand-alone, independent and small aged-care service providers nationally. Over the years, compliance costs and expectations for aged care providers have increased significantly. Larger providers are now better placed to meet these costs efficiently as they have the capacity to spread the costs over a broader base,” Ms Alexander said.

“Respect Aged Care is a Tasmanian not-for-profit organisation based in Ulverstone. It is a respected well-established service provider with extensive resources and national experience in the aged care sector. We are confident that Respect Aged Care has a strong commitment to the highest of standards; and shares the Society’s values of compassion and care for residents.

“The transfer is expected to be completed by September 2019; and will not adversely impact staffing levels or the 73 residents who call Mt St. Vincent their home. This is one of the reasons we chose Respect as the right organisation to take on the home.

“Whilst the sale will return much-needed funds to the Society, the commercial transaction was not our number one priority. Our top priority was to ensure our residents continued to receive high quality care, and that our staff continued to be treated well.  The funds received from the transfer will be used to progress the mission of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, including Vinnies programmes that address the issues leading to homelessness and initiate mitigating and prevention strategies; and generally continuing our proactive approach to minimising poverty, particularly youth poverty,” Ms Alexander added.

Respect Aged Care’s Managing Director, Mr Jason Binder, said that since 1964 Respect has provided clients in Tasmania and Victoria with the best possible residential care. He said that he is particularly proud of Respect’s wonderful employees and the organisation’s industry-leading staff training and development programmes.

“Our mission has always been to care for the elderly in our communities in an environment of respect, value and belonging; and we are looking forward to extending this philosophy of compassionate care at Mount St. Vincent. We strive to be progressive and innovative leaders in the aged care and health industries by creating environments where people enjoy living and our staff are proud to work,” Mr Binder said.

“Being a local Ulverstone based not-for-profit organisation, we are familiar with the rich history of Mt St. Vincent. We are especially excited about retaining local ownership and preserving the high quality care and services to residents at the home” Mr Binder added.

The Aged Care Quality Standards were developed by the Australian Government’s Department of Health in collaboration with consumers, carers, aged care providers, aged care workers, clinicians and other experts. They apply to all aged care services including residential care, home care, flexible care and services under the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.