Juniper has started a refurbishment project to reopen St Andrews Residential Aged Care Home in Balcatta, adding 76 much-needed beds for older Western Australians.
The move is a win at a time when there are few new residential aged care beds, older Western Australians are languishing in hospital and there are long timeframes for building new residential aged care homes.
Juniper CEO Russell Bricknell said the St Andrews project would bring beds online relatively quickly to help meet the unprecedented demand for residential aged care.
“To bring St Andrews up to operational standard will take about 18 months, which is significantly shorter than building a new aged care home. This project means we will be able to provide a safe and comfortable home for customers relatively quickly,” Russell said.
“Juniper is working hard to contribute to growing aged care bed numbers and we are looking forward to State and Federal Government support in achieving this.”
Up to 2700 new WA beds are needed by 2030 to meet demand. That is the equivalent of 27 new 100-bed facilities, which take four to five years to build. The average occupancy rate in WA aged care homes is 96.5 per cent, higher than the national average. It costs roughly $700,000 to build each bed in WA, compared with $500,000 in the eastern states.
The St Andrews project, which involves significant building works, includes recommissioning 76 beds, reconfiguring shared ensuites so that every room has its own ensuite and an expanded café area.
St Andrews benefits from an established residential care layout, with household style wings, common lounge and dining areas, a chapel, salon and wellness spaces and staff and operational support areas. The refurbishment will improve the front-of-house reception experience, the café and create a stronger connection between indoor and garden areas.
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