Newmarch House class-action: Families go after Anglicare, NSW Health over 19 Covid deaths

Newmarch House’s residents became the faces of the unfolding Covid crisis in April 2020 when 19 people died. Their grieving families have just launched a class-action against the aged care facility and NSW Health.

Newmarch House was devastated by Covid at the beginning of the pandemic. Picture: Cameron Spencer

Families grieving the deaths of loved ones caught up NSW’s largest aged care Covid-19 outbreak have launched a class-action against the government and provider over their handling of the crisis.

Newmarch House’s residents in Kingswood became the faces of the unfolding Covid crisis in April 2020 when the virus swept through the facility just one month after NSW had gone into lockdown.

lmost 100 of the facility’s elderly residents contracted the virus and 19 died as authorities locked the facility down, allowing no family in and no residents out.

Shine Lawyers announced the class-action on Friday on behalf of families whose loved ones had died during the crisis.

The legal action focuses on Newmarch’s management, Anglicare, as well as NSW Health.

Nineteen Covid deaths were linked to Newmarch House in Kingswood at the start of the pandemic in 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The lawsuit comes as multiple families claim the outbreak was mismanaged, with loved ones saying they were left in the dark or told incorrect information about residents’ worsening conditions in the “house of horrors”.

Nicole Fahey, a granddaughter of a Newmarch resident, was one of many allegedly kept in the dark and described the anguish the family went through figuring out what was happening inside those walls.

“From the very start they were told it was just the sniffles, the residence weren’t even told it was Covid until a lot later,” Fahey told The Telegraph.

“There was no communication. You couldn’t get in contact. The phone was ringing off the hook there was no staff to answer the phones.”

Flowers left outside Newmarch House in 2020 after residents began dying from Covid, while their families watched on helplessly from outside the facility. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

“No one knew who was dying, when they were dying, or when their tests were. We never even got told Nan had Covid, we found out accidentally by calling a nurse.”

“My dad went to call a friend and dialled the Home by accident and it wasn’t till he said ‘hang on while I have you how is my grandma’ which she replied with ‘oh don’t you know she has Covid’.”

“We weren’t even told about the outbreak in the home. We found out ... on Facebook.”

But as hard as getting in contact with staff in Newmarch was, Ms Fahey believes seeing her grandmother was even harder, with the aged care home even threatening legal action if they tried to visit them.

“A lot of the families who are involved the class action … were begging one to go and see them to say goodbye after 50 years of marriage but were getting refused to say goodbye. People just wanted their family home.”

Nicole Fahey said she struggled to get any form of clear communication from the home. Picture: Damian Shaw

“But it was all completely refused. You’re not allowed to. The doors were locked, everyone was locked out, the key pad access was removed completely, so we had no way of seeing them.”

“It was baton-down-the-hatches, no one is allowed in, and if you do try and get in you will go to jail or an $11,000 fine

“It was all scare tactics but why though? Did you prefer for them to die in there.”

The statement of claim brought forward in the class-action spans more than 40 pages and states families were discouraged from removing their loved ones from the facility as well as alleged failures including some residents who weren’t showered, toileted, medicated or even, at times, fed.

It also describes the standard of care during the deadly outbreak as “grossly inadequate and incompetent.”

The class-action follows a coronial inquest into the deaths in July 2022.

The inquest looked at whether the emergency response to the crisis was appropriate; whether leadership, management and communication from staff to family members was appropriate; whether an infection prevention procedure and management of appropriate medication for residents was in place; whether the treatment and management of the residents was appropriate in the circumstances; and whether the deaths could have been prevented.

A number of families provided evidence at the inquest, detailing their stories of heartbreak and loss as they watched their loved ones die alone.