Hundreds of elderly people in limbo with Wesley Mission to shut down Sydney care homes

Hundreds of aged care residents will be forced to move on after their facilities closed down in Sydney because of staffing issues.

Three aged care facilities are set to be closed down leaving hundreds of vulnerable residents forced to find new places to live.

Wesley Mission announced on Thursday that they would close its remaining three residential aged care facilities in Sydney.

Chief executive Reverend Stu Cameron said there were many factors that drove the decision to shut down, including a workforce challenges and new requirements for aged care centres.

Staff and nursing shortages were named as one of the reasons behind the closures as 24/7 nursing requirements are brought in. Picture: NCA Newswire /Gaye Gerard

These requirements include having nurses on duty 24 hours a day, as recommended by the aged care royal commission that was completed in March 2021.

“The aged care sector is experiencing challenges to workforce and flow-on impacts from the national reforms to aged care. Wesley Mission supports these once-in-a-generation reforms, improving quality for all care users,” CEO, the Reverend Stu Cameron said.

“It is, however, a challenging environment to be a smaller provider. With just three aged care locations, our offering in this area is small compared to the large and diverse range of community services we provide around NSW and across Australia.”

Reverend Cameron has warned that Wesley Mission will not be the only provider to close its doors. Photo: Channel 9

The daughter of a woman who lives at one of the Wesley Mission facilities has spoken out about how families had no warning that they could have been closed, saying the decision is “absolutely heartbreaking”.

“I don’t think Wesley handled the announcement well, there’s residents that moved in just a few weeks ago and paid their deposits only to now have to move,” said Jennifer Asher on A Current Affair.

Ms Asher is now forced to find another home for her 86-year-old mother who suffers from severe dementia and cannot even leave the facility to visit the doctor due to her illness.

“I don’t think this is going to end well for my mum, I’ll be very honest about that,” she said.

She said she also worries about the staff who have lost their jobs.

“My heart goes out to them too, because they’ve given their hearts and souls to take care of our families over the last, you know, two to three years,” she said.

Reverend Cameron also joined the program to talk about the aged care shutdown, saying that “uncertainty” around staffing and the inability to get funding from the government contributed to the decision to close the doors of the three facilities.

Jennifer says she is worried for her mother who faces complications with her dementia that will make moving extremely difficult. Photo: Channel 9

“Because we’re a large community service provider, we don’t believe that we are able to access some of the funding that’s available for small providers or small organisations,” he said.

“So really, our hands were tied in terms of the economics of this situation, as extraordinarily difficult as a decision it has been.”

He also warned that Wesley Mission would not be the only provider to close centres.

“I don’t think we’re the first and I don’t think we will be the last,” he said.

The claim that the centres are being forced to close their doors was rebuked by Aged Care Minister Anika Wells, who said Wesley Mission had been “aware” of the Royal Commission calls for reforms for more than two years ago.

“So this was no blindside, and I’m disappointed that Wesley Mission, the first I heard of this was last night,” she told reporters.

Anika Wells said she was “disappointed” that Wesley’s Mission did not reach out to the government for help. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Ms Wells said the chief executives of Wesley Mission did not mention their plans to close up shop when she met with them “just two weeks ago”.

“Had they raised it with me, I could have told them about all the resourcing and information and support that is available to facilities who are facing crippling workforce shortages and who are worried that they will not meet requirements.”

Last month, Ms Wells admitted staff shortages would mean around five per cent of aged care providers would not be able to fulfil the 24/7 nurse requirement.

However, she assured those in the sector that the government would not shut down facilities if they struggled to fulfil the requirement.

Residents have just over a month to find a new home, with Wesley Aged Care appointing MyCarePath to assist.

“At this stage, we anticipate closing our centres at the end of May 2023, and before then, we will be doing all we can to support residents in choosing a new home that meets their needs,” Rev Cameron said.

“We will also be supporting affected staff to find a new role, or with assistance to find a role at a different provider.”

Originally published as Hundreds of elderly people in limbo with Wesley Mission to shut down Sydney care homes