Northcott has rejected claims by the Health Services Union (HSU) that it has not provided adequate follow-up support to clients affected by the impending closure of its Dubbo office.
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The HSU raised concerns about the disability services provider’s handling of its withdrawal from the city after more than 25 years, announced last week.
The sudden end of operations will put 22 workers out of a job and force about one hundred clients to look for new providers of support.
This week the union claimed families of clients of the service marked for closure on March 15 were informed by a late-night email without a subsequent phone call.
HSU organiser Randall Millington said parents and guardians were then left with “the unenviable task” of breaking the news to clients, without access to professional help.
They’re meant to be a not-for-profit charity, and on the face of it, they’ve got no heart.
- HSU organiser Randall Millington
“They’re meant to be a not-for-profit charity, and on the face of it, they’ve got no heart,” he said.
The organiser, who visited Dubbo on Thursday to meet with affected workers, said in his experience, “if something like this ha[d] to occur, there would be professional help, or there would be a forum”.
“It’s my understanding a lot of the parents and guardians would like an open forum to discuss what has gone wrong,” he said.
“Northcott are unwilling to do that.”
Northcott chief executive officer Kerry Stubbs rejected the union claims.
Northcott’s primary concern was ensuring clients were informed and supported, and in the difficult time of announcing the closure it had carried out the approach through a number of steps, the CEO said.
State operations manager John Preston met with staff in Dubbo to explain what the organisation was doing and how it would be addressing customer and staff needs, Ms Stubbs said.
The email that was sent out to all affected customers included a promise to call each one and discuss how Northcott would support them in finding another provider, she said.
The next day Northcott started to contact customers by phone and offer support and assistance, and all customers had been contacted, she said.
“Many of our customers appreciated the offer of assistance but indicated that they had contacts with other providers and were able to manage that process themselves,” she said.
“We said that any time they could call us if needed any further assistance or support.
“For those customers that asked for assistance, we are providing that on an individual basis including talking directly with other providers.
“We will continue to make sure that they are properly supported until they make arrangements with another provider.”
Ms Stubbs said she was happy to talk to clients on an individual basis if they requested it, as was anyone else in her team.
"So far nobody has asked to do that beyond the support we are already providing," she said.
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