In preparation for the NDIS, the NSW Government has sold its Home Care Services to Australian Unity. Home Care provides in-home care services to more than 50,000 clients across NSW.
Under the conditional agreement, Australian Unity will pay $114 million, with the transfer expected to be finalised by early 2016. On completion it will result in Home Care becoming one of the largest areas of operation within the Australian Unity Group and one of the largest home care providers in the country. Staff and clients will transfer to Australian Unity and will continue to provide all services. The group has been providing home care services for over a decade with accreditations across a number of federal, state government and external accreditation bodies.
The NSW government’s key objective has been to select a provider who could deliver continuity of service and prepare Home Care for the NDIS and aged care reforms.
Australian Unity executive officer for retirement living, Derek McMillan, said the organisation would seek to provide increased levels of care as clients’ needs change. “So they can continue to receive the right levels of care within their preferred environment, where possible their own home.”
Australian Unity is a mutual company with a 175 year history of offering community services, with no external shareholders and with customers and staff as its members. It reinvests profits into expanding services.