The unexpected closure of the Dava Lodge high-care nursing home in Bentons Road stunned its 90 nursing and personal care staff and forced 75 elderly residents to find new residential care.

"It is particularly important following the earlier closure of a nearby 45-bed aged-care facility that these residential aged-care places and the 90 approved places at Dava Lodge are not lost to the local area in the event of a bed licence sale," Mr Billson said last week.

"I have written to the federal government urging the retention of these available approved residential aged-care places in our local area to help ensure that existing pressures and demand on local aged-care facilities is not made more challenging as a result of allocated bed licenses being approved for transfer out of our region. Four residents still need to find alternate accommodation and Dava Lodge staff have informed me that they will continue to provide care and support for the remaining residents and work with family members to find suitable high-care accommodation.

"Staff are understandably concerned about outstanding unpaid entitlements and I am advised these obligations will be addressed upon the sale of the bed licences."

Dava Lodge is owned by Caulfield Drive Pty Ltd and run by Residential Aged Services.

Its closure was announced last month after a potential buyer pulled out.

Assistant secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Nursing Federation, Paul Gilbert, had previously called for federal reforms to prevent similar, sudden closures.

"The care and fate of vulnerable elderly residents, who live in aged-care facilities that are part of the health system, should not be in the hands of a private operator and its bottom line," Mr Gilbert said.