Running out of bread at Mt. Martha’s Cambridge Aged Care Group

Concerns that Cambridge Aged Care Group is in such financial strife that they’ve run out of basics for residents’ breakfast is being investigated.

A report by the Sunday Herald Sun revealed problems with care at the group’s five homes in Victoria. Questions have been raised about how director Stephen George Snowden, a convicted criminal and former bankrupt, was deemed fit and proper to run nursing homes. Concerns of financial mismanagement include allegations that on one day Snowden paid himself $1 million from the nursing homes’ trust account.

The Department has since revealed that because supplier’s bills went unpaid, Woodhaven Lodge ran out of meat on two occasions while Mt Martha Valley Lodge couldn’t afford bread for residents’ breakfasts. Their electricity supply had also been cut. Greater concerns are mounting that if the group collapses, 318 elderly patients would be left homeless.

Mr Snowden has said that The Department of Aged Care “conducted numerous inspections of the relevant nursing homes, which have passed such inspections." Federal Minster for Health and Ageing Mark Butler remains ‘deeply concerned’ but was unable to comment further while the homes were under investigation. "Whilst past issues about quality of care have been resolved ... close monitoring by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency continues to ensure quality of care is maintained," he added.

The Department is also investigating claims that the group has been inappropriately using bond money for day to day operational costs. Other cases that the group wasn’t returning bonds to families of the deceased were also being addressed. However Mr Butler confirmed that if the group became insolvent, all residents’ bonds would be guaranteed by the Federal Government.