Anglican Care Breaks Ground in Gloucester

Anglican Care recently hosted an historic ground-breaking ceremony on the site of their Gloucester Aged Care project in the presence of the Right Reverend Dr Peter Stuart, Bishop of Newcastle, Federal Member for Lyne David Gillespie, Anglican Care Chair Malcolm McDonald and CEO Colin Osborne, local dignitaries, staff and the community.

The ground-breaking took place on the Clement Street site and is a significant step for the $20 million state-of-the-art purpose-built aged care facility to match the needs of the ageing community in Gloucester.

In August 2015 Anglican Care was named the successful proponent of a robust and transparent tender process to accept the transfer of aged care licences from Gloucester Hospital. Since this time, the official process of land selection, funding applications and other regulatory issues have been finalised.

More recently Anglican Care was the recipient of an $8 million Australian Government Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF) grant – an initiative to drive economic growth and build stronger regional communities.

The project will ultimately see the construction of a community village providing a range of living environments, care, support and choice for seniors in Gloucester and surrounding areas as far as Walcha and the southern New England and western Mid Coast regions.

Stage one of the development includes a residential aged care home with single rooms with ensuites, a large multi-purpose area to facilitate resident and community activities, events and lifestyle programs. It will also include lounge and dining rooms, a reception area, hairdresser, allied health and therapy room and administration. 

Federal Member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie has been supportive of the project from its inception and is excited to see the construction phase commence.

“The Anglican Care development offers significant social and economic benefits for the Gloucester community and it’s encouraging to see them now moving into the construction phase,” he said.

“This project will not only deliver a boost to our local economy, but also provide long term retirement options for locals who live here and those people considering making the tree change to the beautiful Gloucester Valley.

Anglican Care CEO Colin Osborne and his Board are pleased to move on Stage One. 

“This is a significant step forward for the community as we commence construction. Gloucester is recognised as having one of the highest proportions of people over the age of 65 in NSW, with 28.4% compared to the state average of 15.7%. The only residential aged care currently in the Gloucester area is delivered from relatively older buildings within Gloucester Hospital which do not facilitate the delivery of contemporary aged care services,” said CEO Colin Osborne ahead of the ground-breaking.

 “Since 2015 we have been working with Hunter New England Local Health District, the Council and Local Member to review aged care services in the area and this development will instil confidence in the community that they can remain in the area and live very comfortably in their retirement years.”

It is expected the project will take approximately 15 months to construct.

Find out more about Anglican Care.