A paralysed Canberra woman says she was left without the usual visits from her in-home carer for days after the collapse of local aged care provider Vivere.
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Vivere, a Fyshwick-based disability support and aged care provider, went into liquidation after abruptly closing its doors on October 26. The company received Commonwealth funding as a "provider of entry-level aged care services", with 30 to 40 clients in the Canberra region.
The locally-owned and operated company had been providing services to people in the ACT and on the South Coast for more than a decade.
It's understood staff were told in an email late on the evening of October 26 that the owners were going to "take a break and move on to other ventures". The email included the name of a third partner to contact "if you have any questions".
One of Vivere's clients was O'Connor woman Margot Harker, who has used a wheelchair since suffering a stroke.
Ms Harker disputed an assertion by the federal Health Department that "immediate action was undertaken to ensure the welfare of those affected" by the sudden collapse of Vivere and the withdrawal of its services, including home visits.
"I personally was left with no home care for over a week," Ms Harker, 72, said.
"Morning after morning nobody came to help me out of bed, prepare a simple breakfast, and help dress me.
"I can ease myself out of bed and into my wheelchair, and get to the toilet. I can make a cup of tea, although handling boiling water is extremely risky.
"For several days, I either stayed in bed or got up but had to stay in a nightie. Friends and family dropped in the few times they could and helped me, but their time was limited and some of them were out of Canberra anyway."
Ms Harker wanted to know why the department "did not take any action right then to arrange instant emergency home care for clients of Vivere".
"The impression I've been getting is that the department was caught flat-footed, having no expectation that any home care provider would collapse leaving large numbers of clients in a dire situation, and had no plan in place for such an eventuality," she said.
A Health Department spokesperson said as "soon as the relevant government authority – the Community Grants Hub (CGH) – became aware of the unforeseen closure, immediate action was undertaken to ensure the welfare of those affected".
That advice had come on October 24, two days before Vivere shut its doors.
Michelle Palmer, coordinator of Ngunnawal Community Care, which brokered its services to Vivere, was forced to post a message on Vivere's Facebook page on October 28 asking if it was still operating. She received no response and has had no luck contacting the company since.
"We've heard nothing," she said.
Mrs Palmer said she knew of two elderly Vivere clients still waiting for their in-home care to be replaced. They received domestic help, including with shopping, and social support. Mrs Palmer said her organisation had helped provide food to those two clients, but nothing ongoing was in place.
A Health Department spokesperson said the closure of Vivere "happened suddenly and was not expected".
The spokesperson said Vivere was a provider of entry-level aged care services under the Commonwealth Home Support Program, and not a provider of home care packages for clients with higher needs.
Vivere maintained its own client lists and "advised that no clients had been identified as being at risk or needing urgent service delivery".
"Vivere staff advised that all clients had been provided with details of alternative providers to deliver their home support services and a phone number for clients to use if they had any concerns or were unable to source an alternative service," the spokesperson said.
A statement said the federal government recognised "the sudden closure of an aged care service provider can be very traumatic for those impacted".
"The Department of Health sourced alternative providers to take on Vivere clients as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.
"Funding has been approved to cover the next five months. An alternative provider is working closely with the client to ensure continuity of home support services. Work to find a permanent and ongoing solution for all clients is underway."
The Vivere phone line continued to be monitored.
When the department was asked if Vivere clients who had paid for their own replacement care would be compensated, the spokesperson said "individual circumstances of the case would have to be examined"
The liquidator for the failed company was unavailable for comment on Friday.
