Dr Peter Lyons and Joan Plunket at the Burrangiri protest in Rivett in early April. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
The ACT Health Minister has promised to write to federal Labor about the fate of the Burrangiri Respite Centre in Weston Creek as early as next week if the party wins this Saturday’s election, but stopped short of saying it would remain a respite centre.
The Burrangiri Respite Centre, located near the Rivett Shops and owned by the ACT Government, is currently run by the Salvation Army. It provides over 5000 bed nights a year but is set to close in June after the government ruled it “unfit for purpose.”
It currently costs $1.7 million a year to run, but Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith believes the Commonwealth should fund it, given that aged care is a Commonwealth responsibility.
The news has prompted an outpouring of protest from clients and their families, with a ‘Save Burrangiri Action Group’ established and a petition launched, which has garnered more than 800 signatures.
Independent MLA Fiona Carrick and ACT Senator David Pocock have also thrown their support behind keeping it open when there is an acute shortage of respite places in the ACT.
“Seems to be meeting the need at the moment and talking to staff, people seem incredibly happy with the service, not a lot of complaints about the facilities,” Senator Pocock said during a protest at the site in early April.
“Sure, in the next decade or so, I’m sure there’ll be a need for an upgrade or a new facility, and that should be the plan, not shutting something with no plan.”
ACT Senator David Pocock has voiced his support to keep the centre open. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Ms Stephen-Smith has blamed the need for the centre’s closure on a “range of challenges” with the building.
“Some of them are really about the fundamental structure of it in terms of room sizes and the appropriateness of the bathroom facilities,” she said.
“The facility doesn’t have ensuite rooms, it doesn’t have the capacity for hoists, for example, for people with limited mobility … Those big structural changes are quite significant, and they also impact … on the capacity for infection prevention and control when you’ve got someone with an infectious disease like COVID or the flu.”
She said very few people coming out hospital and entering respite care could go to Burrangiri because of these “infrastructure challenges”, and the cost of refurbishing the centre was too high to be worthwhile.
The Save Burrangiri Action Group, however, argues that because it isn’t registered as a “residential aged care facility” and there is no age limit on clients, so industry-aged care standards don’t apply.
It also states that the centre’s five shower facilities and 12 toilets, shared between 15 overnight clients and 10 daytime clients, give it a better “client-to-shower ratio” than most public hospitals.
The Burrangiri Respite Centre isn’t technically classified as an aged-care facility. Photo: Fiona Carrick.
“There is simply nowhere else for Burrangiri’s clients to go,” group convenor Dr Peter Lyons says.
“The centre’s existing facilities have provided enormous relief to its clients and their families for many years. We see no real ground to close it, least of all before any replacement is made available.”
At a press conference this week, Ms Stephen-Smith appeared to backtrack slightly and said the ACT Government now “definitely” wants to refurbish the site. But she wouldn’t commit to it remaining as a respite centre.
“No decision has been made about that,” she said.
“[Burrangiri] is not usually the way that respite care for older people is delivered, in a standalone facility of that size. It’s usually alongside other aged-care services, or in a smaller facility, which is a more homelike environment.”
The government had been considering Burrangiri as a potential relocation site for Arcadia House during the construction of the North Canberra Hospital.
Arcadia is a 12-bed facility that offers a range of rehabilitation programs, including a one- to two-week withdrawal program, a 12-week day program, and a 12-week residential program, with an additional ‘step-down’ four-week day program.
“But [Burrangiri] is not ideal for that purpose for many reasons, and it would only ever be a temporary solution because we really want to relocate Arcadia House on the north side of Canberra, so I’ve asked officials to have another look at potential northside sites.”
Other uses the government is considering include a new perinatal mother and baby service, which ACT Labor promised in the lead-up to the October 2024 election, as well as other “hospital step-up, step-down services”.
Rachel Stephen-Smith speaking at a press conference at the North Canberra Hospital. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
“There are a range of things where we need both community-based care, as is going to be delivered in this facility, and residential care services … to continue to expand. So there won’t be a shortage of uses for that site, but no decision has been firmly made yet about that.”
If it’s returned to government this weekend, federal Labor has promised $10 million to increase the number of respite aged care beds in the ACT, through either a new or existing provider.
The Commonwealth currently funds 78 “transition-to-care places” in the ACT, including 15 residential care services.
“I’ve indicated to Senator Katy Gallagher that if Labor is re-elected and they’ve got this $10 million commitment to capital funding for respite for older people, that we would be very happy to have a conversation with them about whether that site [Burrangiri] is appropriate,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
