Watchdog to hound aged care homes with spotchecks as aged-care staff may face compulsory Covid-19 vaccines

Victoria’s at-risk aged care homes are being hit with infection control spot checks by the sector watchdog after coronavirus again infiltrated the system.

The aged care watchdog is carrying out spot checks of infection control procedures at nursing homes at risk during Victoria’s latest outbreak.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson told the Herald Sun the commission was part of twice-daily outbreak management meetings with the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre.

“The commission is collaborating with VACRC to support telephone-based contacts with all aged residential care services in the greater Melbourne area,” she said.

“These contacts are intended to confirm the actions that services are taking for outbreak preparedness including facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccination.”

“Where the VACRC phone contact program identifies risk in relation to outbreak management preparedness, a referral is made to the commission which is responding by undertaking an infection control monitoring spot check visit.”

Ms Anderson warned aged care providers needed “meticulous planning and well-rehearsed preparations” to minimise the risk of an outbreak.

“All providers are reminded of their legal responsibilities under the Aged Care Quality Standards to ensure that staff have the necessary training, including in infection control practices and procedures, and in the appropriate use of PPE including gloves, masks, face shields and gowns,” she said.

Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck said there were 50 roving teams providing the jab across Victorian aged care facilities this week.

He said he was “very pleased” the state government was preferencing aged care workers at state-run vaccination sites in a blitz this week.

Senator Colbeck said he believed Victoria already had a “fast lane” for the aged care workforce at its vaccination centres.

FEDERAL MINSITER SLAPS DOWN “EMOTIVE” CRITICISM

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck has dismissed “emotive” criticism of the sluggish vaccine rollout as Health Department officials were slammed for lacking key data on Victoria.

Appearing before a senate committee on Tuesday, Mr Colbeck said 153,641 of the roughly 183,000 aged care residents across Australia had received their first dose.

But Health Department officials did not know how many aged care workers had been vaccinated, and were unable to immediately reveal how many residents in Victoria had received their first dose.

“I would have assumed most people would have prepared for (questions on the) aged care vaccine rollout today,” Labor senator Katy Gallagher said.

“Surely your officials brief you; isn’t that the way it works? People who are working on the vaccine rollout prepare you to attend here to inform us?”

Health Department associate secretary Carolina Woods said all but one of 596 Victorian aged care facilities had received their first dose, while 392 had received their second.

Ms Gallagher said the government had pledged to complete its aged care vaccine rollout within six weeks, a criticism Mr Colbeck dismissed as “convenient”.

“You conveniently also forget to consider that other circumstances have occurred during the period of the rollout,” he said.

But Ms Gallagher retorted the aged care rollout was in Phase 1A, the government’s top priority.

“You promised; it was your timetable,” Ms Gallagher said.

“Senator, you can make your emotive statements, that’s fine. But we have had a systematic program to roll out the vaccine,” Mr Colbeck said.

“You do recall how many people died in aged care, if you’re going to accuse me of emotive statements,” Ms Gallagher responded.

The pair also clashed over aged care workers, after officials conceded they could not be certain of vaccination rates among the group.

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) was also considering mandating vaccines for aged care workers, having decided against the measure earlier this year.

Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy said the shift was due to “better” evidence suggesting the vaccine reduced transmission, but conceded the data was “not complete”.

“Fully vaccinated people have transmitted the virus in a number of situations around the world. (But) there is now better data on that. That was the data that was missing,” he said.

Mr Colbeck said the government’s priority of residents over staff might have shifted to aged care workers had the data been previously available.

“Had we understood at the outset that the vaccine would protect against transmission, it would have been a very different equation,” he said.

“Putting a ring around the residents by compulsorily vaccinating the staff would have made a big difference, but we actually didn’t know that.”

Dr Murphy the issue was on the AHPPC’s agenda this week and a decision would likely been made then.

AGED CARE WORKERS MAY FACE NO JAB, NO JOB RULE

Aged-care staff may face compulsory Covid-19 vaccines to go to work as authorities scramble to shield elderly Victorians after the virus spread across nursing homes.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has asked the national medical expert panel to reconsider its opposition to mandatory vaccinations, a move industry leaders said should have happened months ago as they blasted delays in inoculating workers.

The state government now requires some healthcare staff to be vaccinated before attending high-risk worksites, and some casual workers have already been turned away from hospital shifts.

And while health unions have warned against compulsory vaccine rules, the Police Association has said it will not oppose the mandatory vaccination of all its members.

The Arcare Maidstone aged-care home was locked down on Sunday after a ­worker –—who had received one vaccine dose — tested positive to Covid-19. About two-thirds of the workforce had not been vaccinated.

Deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd said the ­expert panel would reconsider the decision it made in January not to mandate the vaccine in aged care, with the issue to be considered at Friday’s national cabinet meeting.

Mr Morrison is believed to be open to changing the rules, though the move would be legally tricky.

Some workers have been unable to get a Covid vaccine. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Councils on the Ageing chief Ian Yates said he backed mandatory vaccines except on clinical grounds, saying a similar policy for the flu last year served to keep it out of homes.

National Seniors Australia spokesman Ian Henschke said employers should take all reasonable steps to encourage workers to be vaccinated, saying: “The sector itself was pushing for mandatory ­vaccinations.”

Leading Aged Services Australia chief Sean Rooney said Australia was “starting to pay the price” for delays in vaccinating workers, a process supposed to be completed by the end of March.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick ­encouraged all workers to get the shot but did not support mandatory vaccinations, saying hesitancy was being “used as a smokescreen” for the federal government’s failure to vaccinate aged-care staff.

Health Workers Union secretary Diana Asmar said some aged-care workers were ­already concerned about being sacked for not getting the vaccine. Ms Asmar said many wanted it but had not been able to get it.

Residents at only 382 of 596 Victorian private aged-care homes have received two doses of the vaccine, with the remainder to receive their second dose within three weeks.

Roving vaccine teams will hit the road this week, targeting those who have missed out.

Scott Morrison has asked the national medical expert panel to reconsider its opposition to mandatory vaccinations

Health Minister Greg Hunt said 85 per cent of aged-care residents had chosen to be vaccinated when it was offered.

Opposition aged-care ser­vices spokeswoman Clare O’Neil demanded the government set clear targets to speed up the vaccination of workers.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton told aged-care workers: “The greatest protection that you can give to those under your care … is to be fully vaccinated.”

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said he would not oppose mandatory vaccination of members if it was “deemed necessary for health reasons”.

“We have regularly and strongly encouraged our workforce to be vaccinated at the earliest opportunity and wherever possible, while our members are on duty,” Mr Gatt said.

The Victorian Ambulance Union and Australian Education Union had both lobbied for better access to the vaccine for members, who were encouraged to get vaccinated.