STAFF and relatives fear elderly residents might die as a result of having to leave their Roxburgh Park nursing home.

Some of the 81 residents at Bridgewater Aged Care Facility cried when they learned on Monday their home was closing and they would have to move.

The Federal Government withdrew its funding because administrators could not secure the centre's sale before a deadline that day.

Judy Edwards, a casual nurse at the home whose mother, Gert Gallagher, 88, is a resident, was "gutted" by the decision.

She believes most residents' health will suffer.

"A lot of them have dementia so they will become more and more confused. And as a result of it, a lot of these people will die," Ms Edwards said. "People in the specific dementia ward will not be able to cope. My mother personally I know will not cope, and they'll have blood on their hands."

Nurse Michelle Szwedyc said residents were now really scared.

"I've come in this morning and I'm giving residents their breakfast, and they're crying and asking me where they're going to go," she said.

Ms Szwedyc is one of 130 employees who have lost their jobs, but she has vowed to stay at the home until the doors shut.

Katy Wall said her father, Ross Cannon, was devastated and confused by the news.

"These people have fought for their country, they've paid their taxes all their life, and now they're treated like this."

The home, owned by Vitality Care, entered administration in May. The Government had given the home until 5pm on Monday to find alternatives to closing.

Administrator Stephen Longley from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said he had negotiated with a potential buyer in the past six weeks, but a contract could not be arranged in time.

He said a sale required the agreement of 45 separate parties under a strata title arrangement.

Though some stakeholders offered to fund operations for the next two weeks in the hope of a deal being finalised, Mr Longley said there was no certainty a sale could be delivered in time.

The state manager of the Department of Health and Ageing, Jennifer McDonald, said the department would continue to support the delivery of care at Bridgewater until the relocation could be completed in "a careful and thought-out and staged way".

A spokesman for Vitality Care's largest shareholder, Glebe Administration Board, the investment arm of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church, said the company was disappointed the sale had fallen through and the centre had to close.

He said the company would be in discussions with administrators.

A creditors' meeting will be held in November to propose that the Vitality Care Commissioning and Vitality Care Operations companies be placed into liquidation.

PWC said staff would be able to access leave and redundancy entitlements through a government scheme, but about $500,000 in unpaid superannuation contributions would not be covered by the scheme.

Source: The Australian - Rachel Hewitt