Rosary Gardens aged care site sold
By Wendy Shaw
The State Government has bought the 3.9-hectare Rosary Gardens aged care site in New Town, Hobart, from Southern Cross Care.
The sale, for a reported $33 million, was announced last month by Deputy Premier Guy Barnett.
It will become the site of a new Older Persons’ Mental Health Facility, with ownership of the vacated site to transfer to the State by 30 September.
The facility will replace the Roy Fagan Centre in Lenah Valley, the State’s inpatient unit for older people with mental health needs. A 2021 Review of the Roy Fagan Centre and Older Persons’ Mental Health Service identified the current centre as outdated and not fit-for-purpose.
Southern Cross Care had put Rosary Gardens up for sale due to ‘changes to its operating model’.
Southern Cross Care has committed to ensuring all residents are assisted in the transition to ‘alternative and appropriate accommodation’.
The chair of Southern Cross Care, Sonya Beyers, said in a statement that it was pleased to have reached an agreement which will see the site continue to be used to provide care for older Tasmanians.
“I would also like to reassure our remaining residents, staff and families: Rosary Gardens will remain open and operational until 30 June, and no resident will be left without a home,” she said.
When Southern Cross Care announced its decision to close Rosary Gardens in November last year, it said the move was in line with a shift from residential to home-based care.
“The well-being of our residents is our number one priority and we will work with each of them, and their families and guardians as appropriate, to ensure an appropriate transition arising from the closure in the middle of next year,” Ms Beyers said in a statement at that time.
She added that with the closure of Rosary Gardens, the entire St John’s Park property at New Town was surplus to requirements. Southern Cross would relocate its head office, at St John’s Park, to a new site in Hobart.
Ms Beyers emphasised that it is “not anticipated that there will be any forced redundancies during this process”, and that Southern Cross Care has no plans to close other facilities in the state.
Rosary Gardens is a 94-bed residential aged-care facility located at Creek Road, New Town.
Southern Cross Care is Tasmania’s largest not-for-profit aged care provider, with more than 1,200 staff statewide, operating nine residential aged-care facilities with more than 700 beds. The organisation also manages 13 independent retirement living sites and provides home-care services to more than 850 clients.