Ljubljana, 22 August (STA) - The Slovenian subsidiary of a French multinational has been granted licences to operate four small care homes in Slovenia, in what is supposed to be a new model of institutional care for the elderly in the country.

Orpea has received the licence to run care homes in the municipalities Komenda, Lož, Žiri and Železniki with a combined 230 beds as part of a new round of licensing announced on Wednesday.

Licences for a total of 928 beds were granted in this round, bringing the nation-wide total to nearly 19,300 beds for the elderly and 2,375 in special institutions for adults.

The new operators have until 2019 or 2020 to get their care homes up and running.

Most care homes in Slovenia are large institutions with several hundred beds, whereas Orpea wants to operate small facilities with 50-70 residents living mostly in single rooms.

Spokespersons for Orpea said earlier this year the new homes would offer a higher standard of living than most existing facilities.

At group level, Orpea posted revenues of EUR 3.1bn for 2017, a tenth higher than in the year before.

Its web site suggests it manages over 80,000 beds in almost 800 elderly care facilities in Western and Eastern Europe.

The Slovenian branch is owned by Orpea's Austrian arm.