The increased scrutiny by the current Royal Commission, increasing regulation and changes to regulation and standards, changing government funding and a short of experienced staff as well as a shortage of skilled board directors with relevant experience are some of the challenges that the board has faced and therefore concluded that Fairview as a stand-alone not-for-profit operator cannot meet those challenges.

The board engaged Bruce Bailey of Pride Living to advise on the most suitable operators and Whiddon was the preferred option by the board.

The board will now seek agreement from the members of Fairview Care Limited at the AGM on November 20.

"We're conducting community engagement with Fairview residents, staff and the general public to put forward what the current reality is - the current situation of aged care in Moree as a stand-alone facility," board member Helen Spain said.

"We think Whiddon is going to guarantee quality aged care in the future that as a stand-alone we can't guarantee anymore."

Much of the concern over the future of Fairview was its struggles to recruit and retain skilled staff, particularly with the Moree population decreasing over recent years.

"We have to rely on out of town contract staff and that is not ideal because they've engaged these aged care staff in Sydney to keep out of sanction but obviously that comes at a great cost," Mrs Spain said.

Additionally, Fairview is governed by a board of volunteers.

Board members are required by law and the new Aged Care Quality Standards to have responsibility and accountability for all corporate and clinical governance at Fairview.

It's expected that directors have skills in areas of risk and clinical and corporate governance and there are very few people in Moree with these skills and it's difficult to recruit skilled board members as people are busy running their own businesses.

For the last three years, Fairview has failed to meet all Aged Care Accreditation standards and is currently working towards a plan to meet these standards.

It has also been through reviews of its financial, administrative and clinical systems which were found to be outdated and inadequate for managing Fairview.

The effect of all these challenges has been increased consultancy fees, staff and education costs, systems improvement costs and significant staff leave payouts as well as significant costs in training and preparing for the change to the new Aged Care Single Standards on July 1, 2019.

As a result, Fairview is currently trading at a loss and has been doing so for nearly two years.

Transferring Fairview's assets to an award winning non-for-profit aged care organisation in Whiddon was unanimously voted by the board as the best option for Fairview's future.

"My view and the view of the board is that if Fairview continues with the model, with the fixed costs and the reality of operating without economies of scale, we will be broke," Mrs Spain said.

Mrs Spain believes a transition to Whiddon will be a massive benefit to Fairview, particularly with evidence of a positive presence in communities like Narrabri, Wee Waa and Walgett.

"They allow the communities in which they operate, the funds raised in those communities are returned to those communities," she said.

"Whiddon will welcome any interaction with the community and promote it and keep those funds for the credit of the Fairview facility."

Mrs Spain said Whiddon will also provide greater benefit to both Fairview staff and residents.

"It's having senior clinical care people," she said.

"At the moment, the facility manager has us, a volunteer board. All the board members are business people around town. We're community people trying to help but aged care is not our specialty. Up until now they have us to bounce ideas off.

"Whiddon has a whole structure behind them so the facility manager gets mentored, all of the staff have training on tap.

"They have opportunities for scholarships so it will be a really good thing for the staff. They will get the training and get greater opportunities to promotion.

"Likewise for the residents, they will also benefit from a more extensive activities scheme and more extensive allied health with aged care.

"There's a demand for podiatrist, demand for occupational therapist. They're obviously more readily available with a larger organisation."

Whiddon CEO Chris Mamarelis was in Moree on Monday, October 14 to speak with Fairview staff, residents and families, River Gums residents as well as Fairview volunteers and Moree community members.

While some concerns were raised about a potential change, Mrs Spain said those community meetings went well.

The board will recommend to members of Fairview Care Limited at the AGM on November 20 that a transfer of Fairview to Whiddon is the best option for Fairview heading into the future.

Any decision to transfer Fairview to Whiddon must be approved by 75 percent of Fairview Care Limited members.