The news comes after Port Stephens Veterans and Citizens Aged Care was recently granted licences for 60 new beds to create a state-of-the-art nursing home. CEO Louise Watters said with each bed costing around $200,000 to adequately set up, the not-for-profit group will need to build extra villas to fund the project.
"The cost of the nursing home is going to be around $12 million because it is a unique style of care with the units above," Ms Watters said.
"So in order to do this we're looking to build 30 to 35 villas at Fingal Bay on land in front of the retirement village and 16 villas at Salamander Bay."
Conditions on the new bed licences require the nursing home to be operating by 2013, but Ms Watters said that it was likely the group would seek an extension to complete the project. The nursing home will provide high-level and hospice care as well as having units above in which partners can live.
She said the aim was to have development applications for the villas to Port Stephens Council by late July or early August with the villas built, complete and sold by the end of this year.
Jason Falinski, MD of CareWell Health, said this is the sort of new developments we need to see in age care.
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