Inland Revenue wants to liquidate aged care business

IRD wants money from businesses running rest homes.

Inland Revenue has applied to the court to liquidate an aged care business with a number of rest homes.

It published notices on applications against three separate companies which are part of the wider Sound Care Group, with rest homes in the North and South Island.

That business says on LinkedIn it owns and manages five care homes: Lester Heights Hospital in Whangārei, Athenree Life in Katikati, Cambridge Life in the Waikato, Eltham Care Rest Home and Hospital in Taranaki and South Care Rest Home and Hospital in North Dunedin.

But on its website, Sound Care says it manages a sixth rest home - Steele Park in Hamilton.

It provides rest home, memory and dementia care as well as hospital-level care.

But Inland Revenue wants to liquidate three of the businesses: Sound Care Group, Cambridge Life and Anthenree Life.

On May 3, it applied to the High Court at Hamilton to have liquidators appointed.

Companies Office records show Mary Carl Astor Mangulabnan of Eltham is the sole shareholder and director.

The business says it puts residents at the heart of its culture.

Inquiries made to owner Carly Mangulabnan did not result in any response.

She is the owner and director.

She first took on that role seven years ago, she said.

“When the opportunity came in 2016 to acquire and manage my first rest home, all I could think of was how completely daunting the entire prospect was,” she said on South Care’s website.

She had been working as an aged care nurse manager previously.

“I slowly realised that my belief in two things was much greater than my fears – that the residents deserved much better care and my team can deliver on that level of care,” she wrote.

Care had been upgraded to the standard residents deserved, she said.

IRD’s three applications are to be heard in the High Court at Hamilton on Monday, May 15.

Work and Income’s Covid-19 wage subsidy site shows Sound Care got $23,400 for five employees and $9600 for eight employees.

Other rest homes have come under financial pressure lately, with many closing.

Management of a 97-bed Auckland Catholic rest home said last year that facility would close, meaning residents must find alternative care.

Relatives and residents got a notice about Waiatarua Mercy Parklands which left them shocked and upset.

The Herald reported how that rest home was losing $100,000 a month.

Ann Coughlan and the Mercy management team announced the closure.

“It is with incredible sadness that I announce that after nearly 40 years of operation in the Ellerslie area, Mercy Parklands will close in its entirety,” she said.

Elderly Kiwis are also languishing in hospital or at home with family unable to properly care for them because rest homes struggling with nursing shortages have stopped admissions, the Herald has reported.

The country’s first Aged Care Commissioner - a watchdog created by the Government last February - warned that better pay for nurses was urgently needed, to ease a crisis that’s left the aged care sector short around 1200 nurses.