FIVE former residents of a Werribee nursing home have died since moving to a new aged-care centre to allow a multimillion-dollar redevelopment to get under way.
Thirty residents of Wyndham Lodge were last month asked to move to other nursing homes to allow Baptcare to start building a multi-storey development on the site.
Management assured families the transition from nursing home to nursing home was much easier than the move from independent living to a nursing home.
Baptcare this week said the deaths might not be linked to the move.
Some families fear the transition has been too stressful. Marie, who did not want her surname printed, said her dad had lost five friends in the past four weeks.
“The move has been stressful for him,’’ Marie said. ‘‘He knew the routine at Wyndham Lodge and that’s what it’s all about with older people.”
Baptcare aged-care operations general manager Michael Wilson said winter
brought a higher mortality rate than other seasons.
