In a surprising but most welcome decision Council has resolved NOT to sell its aged care facilities. Here is the relevant Media Release.
We can only speculate as to the reasons for this decision. Council would like to have us believe that the role of the Royal Commission is/was central. This was however pointed out in numerous submissions that were opposed to the sale. Residents were adamant that no sale should proceed until the findings of the Commission were made public. Yet these pleas fell on deaf ears and council(lors) voted to sell.
That leaves the question of PRICE. We are only speculating of course, but conclude that council simply did not get the offers it was seeking. Plus, potential buyers were not prepared to pay for the perhaps necessary upgrades to the facilities. It all boils down to money.
Neither does this media release provide any long term comfort for residents, carers, staff and their relatives in these aged care facilities. The Media Release states “there will not be a sale at this time“. Nothing precludes a sale down the track.
The resolution is obviously welcome but given the continual backtracking of this council on so many issues there remains the need for muted celebration.
Glen Eira Debates 
November 27, 2019 at 10:06 PM
This is not a surprising outcome in the current royal commision climate.
Hyams and his mates will be disappointed as they would be dead against council owning and running aged care, or just about anything else, as they are user-pay neocons, believing in private systems they can manipulate into their realm. They’ll be back.
November 27, 2019 at 10:45 PM
Yes we can only speculate as this whole process started without community consultation, decisions along the way were made behind closed doors and little to no transparency by our council members. They now claim their decision was based on not being able to achieve their high criteria standards. This council has failed miserably in their so called efforts to consult the community. They placed the aged care residents, their families and staff in a very stressful situation. Many families panicked and started looking for alternative care and some staff looked for new employment.
Perhaps this council may learn an important lesson that transparency and
community consultation is a crucial part of their job.
November 28, 2019 at 10:07 AM
Probably lots of things have happened during the time they said sell and now. How many staff have gone and got other jobs knowing their time was limited? How much time and energy did residents put in to find their relatives alternate accommodation and did anyone take their relatives out and move them? Stress caused is unknown but I bet it was plenty. They’ve botched this from the beginning and caused plenty of misery for those directly affected.
November 28, 2019 at 6:06 PM
The Mayor appears to be attempting to rewrite history. She makes the claim “We always said that we would only sell to an aged care provider that met our high standards and if the process did not identify a quality provider, we would not sell.”
This is not specified in the motion that was adopted on 5 Feb 2019. That decision was made in secret like so much of Council business, but the text of the motion was published. The criteria for selling was “appropriate purchaser” and “commercial agreement which is satisfactory to Council”.
November 29, 2019 at 12:23 PM
@Martine, you’re not wrong. A very long 9 and a half months at that!
December 1, 2019 at 10:29 PM
The aged care facilities run by Glen Eira are running at a loss….FACT! this loss should be passed to the state Government. Councils have no experience at running aged care facilities; this is obvious as they are loosing millions and only a couple of local councils still run aged care in Victoria probably due to State Government pressure. Yes we need the facilities BUT they need to be run as non profit not loss making enterprises. This is a mute point, councils need to stick to the basics but many of the councillors are frustrated state parliamentarian’s so this is there chance to play the big guy. Ridiculous, it only serves the point of how incompetent our present councillors are.
December 2, 2019 at 6:23 PM
Not for profit??? Do you still believe in fairly tales? At not-for-profit organisations staff wages are lower, profits stay on top, used for overseas, interstate and local “training”, entertainment and paying for the lifestyles of CEO’s, managers, board members. FACT! Just look at what’s been happening in the employment services sector.
December 2, 2019 at 4:58 PM
Botched Process/Pointless Exercise
The then Mayor Cr Hyams, advised residents and their families on 6 February 2019 that:
‘my colleagues and I have resolved that we intend to sell our three residential aged care facilities — Rosstown Community in Carnegie, Spurway Community in Murrumbeena and Warrawee Nursing Home in Bentleigh East’
and that
‘We ….. believe a sale to a specialist aged care provider is in the best interests of current and future residents. That is because specialist aged care providers are best placed to deliver more personalised aged care with enhanced allied health services and activities.’
and that
‘I want to assure you that Council will only proceed with a sale if we can identify a purchaser that:
has a proven track record of providing quality residential aged care with high resident and employee satisfaction;
will honour the current resident agreements; and
has the financial capacity to invest in the facilities and services.’
In an update to residents and their families on 26 March 2019, Council Officers advised that:
‘Council believes that specialist providers are best placed to provide the high standard, quality aged care our community deserves into the future.’
A further update from the then Mayor on 3 April 2019 confirmed that:
‘I want to emphasise that Council will:
sell only to a specialist residential aged care provider who:
will honour the current resident agreements
has a proven ability to provide quality aged care
has high employee and resident satisfaction levels
has the financial capacity to invest in the facilities
and will
not sell to a party intending to develop the sites for other uses
only sell all facilities to a single quality aged care provider.’
This was the consistent message from Council throughout the process!
There was plenty of interest in the sale from prospective purchasers! Residents were subjected to a procession of groups of smartly dressed, clip-board carrying people with condescending smiles invading the privacy of their homes over a number of weeks during the process.
So what went wrong for Council?
Which of Councils strict criteria did the applicants fail to meet?
Was it that they would not honour the current resident agreements?, or that they did not have a proven ability to provide quality aged care?, or that they had poor employee and resident satisfaction levels?, or that they did not have the financial capacity to invest in the facilities.
The more cynical amongst us might suggest that there was a 5th criteria that they were not able to meet, that being, the price they were prepared to pay!
If Council considered that it was in the best interest of current and future residents to sell the aged care facilities to a specialist provider, why did this not happen?
It now seems that Council is, by its own admission, not acting in the best interests of the current and future residents of its aged care services and that at some time in the future it will have another tout at selling off its aged care services for pure financial gain!
How much has this cost?
Financial Consultants, Aged Care Consultants, Probity Auditors?
Loss of revenue from empty beds?
Staff replacement costs resulting from increased absenteeism (sick/stress leave)?
Increased use of Agency Staff?
Anxiety caused to residents and staff – immeasurable!!
December 2, 2019 at 5:37 PM
If there is to be complete transparency, then your questions deserve a council response. In addition to your queries, we suggest a few more:
1. How many staff have left or taken up other employment? Have they been replaced?
2. How many residents have moved to other private run facilities?
3. Can council provide a guarantee that they will not attempt to sell again for the next 10 years?
4. Will council make public the official expressions of interest?
and the most important question you have raised
5. What is the total cost to council for this exercise in terms of consultants, hiring of external aged care staff, lawyers, etc.?
December 2, 2019 at 6:18 PM
Facilities were run short-staffed, with extra agency workers for the last several months. Fact.
December 2, 2019 at 7:37 PM
In any case, the last 9 and a half months have been very badly and may I say, arrogantly managed. There was no joy for any person affected. Some staff deliberately took sick leave, 1. knowing they’d lose their sick leave if not used.
2. Staff were not happy campers, according to all reports, they felt “micro-managed”, feeling they were pushed, therefore a few might leave before entitlements were due.