One of the casualties of a New South Wales regional aged care system that is failing because of a lack of funding is Helen, the 94-year-old mother of Arthur Dracopoulos who is forced to move to a facility an hour away from her home town in Pambula where she lived for 60 years of her life.
The Daily Telegraph reported that Ms Dracopoulos had to move out of the only aged care home in Bombala after the provider Southern Cross closed the aged care facility earlier this year. She is now in a facility in Pambula which is an hour away from Bombala, said her daughter-in-law Dina Dracopoulos.
Dina said the sudden closure of the Bombala home had impacted heavily on local families.
“I cannot complain about the care, but she is dying of loneliness. It is just devastating. They have literally been torn from their homes,” Dina Dracopoulos said.
Regional health minister Bronnie Taylor said the closure at Bombala and at another location in the west, at Harden was an indication of growing health crisis in the regional areas of the state.
According to recent NSW Health figures, 511 patients in the state’s regional hospitals were waiting for aged care or National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) accommodation with the number of elderly people waiting for places at aged care facilities tripling over the last year.
A spokesperson for the Federal Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells told the Daily Telegraph that her government was determined to put care back into aged care, particularly in the regional areas.”
