One in 10 aged care residents suffered significant weight loss during Omicron outbreak

A horrifying picture of what happened to aged care residents during the Omicron wave has been revealed in a government report. See which states suffered the worst.

One in 10 aged care residents suffered significant unplanned weight loss this year, a damning report has found.

Residents in aged care homes in the Northern Territory fared the worst with more than one in five suffering weight loss of more than five per cent of their body mass.

The government figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare were taken between January and March this year, coinciding with the Omicron surge and dangerous staff shortages.

Queensland was the next worst state with 11.5 per cent of its aged care residents suffering significant weight loss; in NSW it was 11.1 per cent; ACT 11 per cent; Victoria 10.6 per cent; SA 10.4 per cent; WA 9.7 per cent and Tasmania 9.3 per cent.

More than 16,600 people across Australia were recorded as having significant unplanned weight loss in the first three months of the year, the highest number recorded since records began in 2019, the figures show.

A meal at an aged care home taken last year. Picture: Yvonne Murfet

At the height of the Omicron crisis, advocates warned that staffing shortages were resulting in residents being left hungry with carers less able to help feed them, and even meals missed.

Dietitians Australia CEO Robert Hunt said it was shocking to see the huge jump in the number of people in aged care that were starving, up nearly 2000 on the previous quarter.

“We stood helpless as Omicron wreaked havoc on people in aged care knowing that meals were being missed due to staff shortages, and the quality of meals went from bad to worse due to supply chain disruptions.

“But make no mistake that the broken record of poor quality indicators predates Covid-19.

“We need to bring dignity back to the lives of those 16,600 people.”

Dietitians Australia has identified two measures that could have an immediate impact on elevating the diet-related health of residents at little cost to operators.

These include mandatory malnutrition screening and meal audits for aged care providers as a condition of receiving the $10 Basic Daily Fee supplement.

Mr Hunt said better dental care in aged care was also a priority, so that people were actually able to eat what was given to them.

Meanwhile, other horrifying figures from the report show that more than a third of residents suffered a fall – 58,400 – between January and March.

Around 4000 of those falls resulted in a major injury.

Nearly four in 10 (39.5 per cent) of aged care residents in WA had a fall.

More than a third of residents recorded a fall in SA (35.5 per cent), with the percentage in ACT 33 per cent; Queensland 31.7 per cent; Victoria 31.1 per cent; NSW 29.6 per cent; Tasmania 29.3 per cent and 28.2 per cent in the NT.

More than 37,000 residents – or one in five – needed to be restrained during that period.

More than a third had to be restrained in the NT; 24.8 per cent in Queensland; 24.3 per cent in WA; 22.1 per cent in SA, 20.3 per cent in NSW; 19.5 per cent in Victoria; 18.4 per cent in ACT and 15.9 per cent in Tasmania.

Aged care residents have suffered during Covid. Picture: iStock

And one in five were given antipsychotic medication, although only half of those had a diagnosis for psychosis.

Lynda Saltarelli, an advocate for the elderly who runs Aged Care Crisis, said chronic staff shortages were highlighted by the Royal Commission but had only got worse.

She questioned how the bulk of homes could get full accreditation when residents were evidently not getting proper care.

“It’s like groundhog day,” she said.

“We are not seeing the changes needed.”