Don Jamieson is caring for his 101 year old mother in law, Nancy Bulmer. Don was told that he couldn’t move her in at SCC when she wanted to last year, because they were painting the rooms. Southern Cross soon after closed the facility with a reported waiting list of 10 residents. Photo Shaun Kingma.

The Focus of the Aged Care Plight in Harden has been put under the spotlight by one of Australia’s most respected programs, the ABC’s 730 Report. 730 ran a piece on the plight of Nancy Bulmer and her son in law Don Jamieson on Tuesday night. Don highlighted the fact that he had tried to assist his mother in law who is 101 to find a position at Southern Cross Aged Care in Harden, however, he was informed the rooms were being painted. Don said, “She is getting more nervous, particularly at night time, she was at the stage where perhaps moving into an aged care facility was a possibility.” Don had planned to move Ms Bulmer into the local aged care home last December. But he said the home, run by not-for-profit Southern Cross Care NSW/ACT, said they couldn’t take her because they were painting the rooms.

In January, Don was shocked to hear the home was closing. “I was very disappointed in Southern Cross, very disappointed,” he told 7.30. “They are a church organisation. They say that they’re going to take care of people, for people to show the love of Christ and I don’t believe they’ve done that with this.” The not-for-profit initially blamed lack of demand for beds as its main reason for closing, but now cites difficulties attracting staff. But former employees and local residents 7.30 spoke to dispute that, including former employee Marie Whittington, who said she loved her time at the home. Her responsibilities included handling applications from prospective residents. Ms Whittington quit just a week before the closure, frustrated with the way she said the home was being managed.  “They weren’t bringing in any new residents for the last few months, despite there being a demand for the beds,” she told 7.30. “None of the staff knew what was happening.”

But the CEO of Southern Cross Care NSW/ACT, Helen Emmerson, denied the not-for-profit did anything wrong in closing the facility at Harden and said the closure “was not an overnight decision”. “It is absolutely factual that we were seeing a decline in the occupancy,” she said. “But it wasn’t the main or the sole reason [for the closure]. What I would say is that severe workforce challenges … were probably the most significant challenge. The lack of staff has been put down to the direction upper management took in the treatment of staff with local staff stating that it was becoming more difficult and was no longer a ‘pleasant’ place to work.

Local councillor Rita O’Connor said her attempts to move her father into the home over the past 18 months were also rebuffed. She said she was told there was a waiting list of at least 10 people. “Country towns are desperate for homes for their oldies,” she said. “It’s really hard to walk down the main street now, because I’m accosted by people in the shops and on the street and in the post office, who are anxious and uncertain about what’s going to happen.” The ABC further reported, “Analysis from chartered accountancy firm Stewart Brown found the closure at Harden was not unique and the sector was in crisis.

Senior partner Grant Corderoy said 24 homes have closed in Australia in the past year, including seven in outer regional, rural and remote areas, impacting 282 regional beds. The regional homes, about 78 per cent are actually running an operating loss and 54 per cent in total are running at a cash loss,” he said. If there’s no change in the funding arrangements, there will be an exponential increase. And we would expect, yes, seven could well go to 15 or 20, within the next two years.” Minister for the Aged, Richard Colbeck declined to comment on the issues facing the aged care sector in Harden and Lithgow in Central NSW. It has now been over 12 weeks since Southern Cross told residents and their loved ones of the news of the closure. Several residents have since passed away after having been moved to alternative homes.