Losing an essential service.

Dementia is a dreadful disease. Those suffering it lose their memory and often fail to recognise loved ones - and in some cases they change nature completely and become aggressive and violent.The state government maintains a 120 bed Dementia facility at Garrawarra specifically to manage those with the disease who regress to aggressive and challenging behavior - and now this unit is to be sold to private interests.There seems to be no concern that the special services will be maintained once commercial interests take over. Challenging patients are costly to care for and it will be a disaster for the families of Dementia sufferers if the new owners decline to accept those with an aggressive challenge.There are some services that simply do not fit into private sector provision - and this is one of them.The need is there and the only provider with the deep pockets to accommodate such patients - is the government.It looks like another case of cost analysis resulting in the government slinking away with it's tail between it's legs - and abandoning an important public service !