Hammond to buy Hope

Hammond Care has reached an ‘in principle’ agreement to acquire the business of Sydney-based Hope Healthcare.

Hope Healthcare is a subsidiary of the Anglican Deaconess Institution Sydney Limited (ADISL) that specialises in delivering palliative care, rehabilitation services, psychogeriatric care and community aged care.

The deal which is set to take effect in July would see Hope Healthcare become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hammond Care. Hammond Care will also acquire Hope’s three sub-acute hospitals in Sydney.

Hammond Care’s CEO, Stephen Judd, said the acquisition was strategically important as there is a need to better integrate palliative care and pyschogeriatrics into aged care services.

“Our future direction has for some time been that dementia care will continue to be a major focus of Hammond Care but we also determined some years ago that we couldn’t do that in isolation and still be successful,” he said.

“Psychogeriatrics and palliative care were certainly areas we identified that we would focus on.”

“If we didn’t develop this relationship, we would have had to develop the expertise that Hope already has. It moves us closer towards the goals which we had already set for ourselves.”

The agreement follows Hammond Care’s announcement last month that it would merge with the Hornsby Kur-ring-gai Care Association (HKCA).

Hope Healthcare’s CEO, Mark Newton, said the organisation’s service delivery would not be disrupted as a result of the deal.

“All of us at Hope Healthcare, with Hammond Care’s support, want to assure those who look to us for high quality, holistic care, that the current arrangements for provision of care and services will continue as of 1 July, 2008,” he said.