The 2014 Aged Care Approvals Round allocated 17,849 new aged-care places across Australia

Maitland City Council approved the design for the expansion in late November but had been waiting on the allocation of bed licences. 

Society chairman and Maitland councillor Bob Geoghegan said he was delighted with the news.

“It has come earlier than what we anticipated,” he said.

“Indications were that we might not hear anything until January.

“Certainly now it is very good news.

“We applied for 44 [licences] and have been awarded 36; that means most of the development we have applied for will be built.

Cr Geoghegan said the announcement would see the development get moving.

“We would think shovel-in-the-ground work will start about the middle of next year,” he said.

“We are certainly looking at finishing in 2016.”

Cr Geoghegan said the new beds had given the project more security. 

“We are still in the detail and design part, but we know we’ve got 36 beds, that gives us a better idea of what the final outcome will be,” he said.

“So it gives us some certainty as to what we will have.”

The original $17.5 million plan was to provide 26 ground-level rooms and 30 first-floor rooms, with up to 44 beds as well as a hair salon, gym and consulting spaces.

It is believed more than 100 people  await a bed at Benhome.

Across Australia, the new places have an estimated annual recurrent funding value of more than $830 million.

In addition to the bed licences, $103 million in capital grants were allocated to assist aged-care providers to build new or improve existing residential aged care services.