Yackandandah Health joins with Apollo Care subject to member vote

The body has signed a deed of transition with Apollo Care, which has taken control of other aged care services which have faced financial or operational difficulties.

However, the pact is subject to support of 75 per cent of Yackandandah Health members at a meeting set down for June 21.

The agreement follows Yackandandah Health facing financial pressures that threatened to close it and securing urgent funding and assistance from the federal government.

Yackandandah Health chair Doug Westland said Apollo Care would provide centralised expertise.

"It is essentially a hybrid structure where Yackandandah Health maintains its not-for-profit status and is sitting within a governance and management structure provided by Apollo and it provides access to specialist management and financial services," Mr Westland said.

Apollo Care chief executive Stephen Becsi said his group had entered alliances at seven other faith or community-based aged care sites in NSW and Queensland since starting in July 2020 amid COVID-19 fallout.

They include re-opening a home at Harden which had allowed residents to return to their community after being forced to move way from the town of around 2000.

The Yackandandah takeover will be effective from June 22 if approved, but Mr Becsi said there would be no noticeable external change.

"We're preserving the name Yackandandah and everything is about the community, it's not a big organisation that changes the name, changes the constitution and puts its own big brand in," Mr Becsi said.

He said due diligence would occur following the switch to determine where improvements are needed and to tackle issues such as the IT system, bandwidth and finances.

Both Mr Becsi and Mr Westland said there would be no job losses, with a board involving community representatives and Apollo delegates to be in place.

The deal includes a medical practice, 44-place early learning centre and retirement village as well as the 84-bed aged care hub.

Mr Westland stressed there was little alternative because without members supporting the deal the operations would cease.

"We see this as a really positive outcome, given the circumstances we were in and as a means of ensuring there is a viable future for the services," he said.

"The alternative is really most uncertain and most unattractive and we're doing everything we can to avoid going in that direction."

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