Ljubljana - The Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs has secured a total 1,107 additional places in care homes all over the country, as EUR 65 million was allocated towards that goal. Almost a third of the newly available places will open in the region of Gorenjska in the north-west, the ministry said on Tuesday.

The region with the most additional spots in care homes, Gorenjska, will provide 348 spots in the towns of Škofja Loka, Radovljica and Cerklje.

In Škofja Loka, 156 beds will be available in a new care home operated by Dom Hmelina, a company that already manages a care home in Radlje ob Dravi, while the Slovenian subsidiary of Austrian company SeneCura will get the licence to operate a home with 144 spots in Radovljica.

SeneCura, the leading private care home operator in Austria, will thus manage five care homes in Slovenia, and the company is already planning to open more, having been awarded a concession for a care home with 120 beds in Krško.

New spots will also become available in care homes in south-western and central Slovenia, and towards the north-east of the country, in several towns around Celje, Maribor, Dravograd and Murska Sobota.

After years of waiting, a new residential care home with 120 beds is to open near the village of Destrnik near Maribor.

The ministry has issued a public call for concession operators for care homes in June last year, and a total of 13 applications have been approved, with services projected to start in 2023.

The ministry added that EUR 65 million had been allocated for securing additional spots in care homes as soon as possible, as well as EUR 93 million to improve the quality of life of care home residents and EUR 59 million to secure 850 more beds in the future.