‘Left to starve’: Shock details of St Basil’s Covid response revealed

Staff at St Basil’s aged care home, where 50 elderly residents died of Covid, have admitted they went “from crisis to crisis” at the height of the outbreak.

It took three tragic minutes to read the names of 50 St Basils residents who died amid a COVID-19 outbreak in aged care as a court probes the disastrous management of the crisis.

A coronial inquest hearing into the St Basil’s coronavirus cluster began on Wednesday by listing the names of every resident who lost their lives in July and August during the second wave in 2020.

Of the 117 people who lived at the Fawkner home, 50 of them died — 45 of those deaths have been attributed to coronavirus.

But the numbers alone “do not begin to convey the trauma and grief” suffered by residents “and the enormous impact on their family members”, counsel assisting, Peter Rozen QC, told the directions hearing from an investigation report.

He detailed startling evidence of how the first infected St Basil’s staff member, whose family had “sore throats”, had worked two shifts without PPE after getting tested on July 5.

That staff member returned a positive test on July 9, with colleagues who worked with her continuing to attend on-site.

A staff notice about the positive case wasn’t sent out until July 13.

St Basil’s called the Victorian DHHS coronavirus hotline on July 9, but DHHS did not alert the Commonwealth Department of Health.

The Commonwealth wasn’t told until five days later, which meant the trigger for a case manager who would coordinate a surge in workforce assistance had been massively delayed.

That’s despite a worker from the Commonwealth aged care regulator (ACQSC) being told by St Basil’s “during a lengthy telephone conversation” in a routine inquiry on July 10, but “remarkably” not passing that information on to their colleagues.

Residents are removed from St Basils aged care home during the Covid outbreak. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Rozen said four days had been lost while the virus was rapidly spreading through the home.

Within a week of the first positive test, a further seven staff and 11 residents were infected with the virus by July 17.

The court heard that at this time, family members desperate to get in contact with loved ones tried all the phone numbers they had for St Basil’s, but no-one answered.

A Commonwealth/Victorian St Basil’s COVID-19 Outbreak Management Team was put together and on July 20 they had a meeting about what to do.

The meeting was told that doctors had “very strong concerns” about their plan to replace all St Basil’s staff, who were considered close contacts.

The plan was a “shocking idea”, a “disaster”, Northern Health doctors said.

The concern was that by removing those familiar with residents and the operation of St Basil’s, that “deterioration and death of residents” through starvation and dehydration was a risk.

Despite this, the whole workforce was stood down two days later, on July 22, under the direction of health officials Dr Finn Romanes and Prof Brett Sutton.

In seeking his sign-off, Dr Romanes told Prof Sutton “the case fatality rate amongst elderly residents of facilities like this is exceptionally high and even a few cases that could be prevented by this action could save lives”.

Some residents who were transferred to hospital were found to have suffered ‘dehydration and deconditioning’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

The replacement team was made up of agency healthcare workers — the most experienced nurse had two years practical experience, while most others were only registered that year.

Many had never worked in aged care and didn’t know how to shower a resident, the court heard.

“We literally went from crisis to crisis,” staff reported.

The new level of staffing was modelled on the then-current level, but it needed to be three times that.

Within two days, about a dozen of the replacement staff, overwhelmed with the task, refused to come to work.

They were “deeply traumatised by the experience,” an investigation found.

The new chefs had no experience cooking modified meals and there were no files for dietary needs.

Some residents were transferred to hospital between July 24 and 26, and were found to have suffered “dehydration and deconditioning” — concerns that had been flagged before the staff were stood down.

Many of the residents transferred to hospital died. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Rozen said many of the residents transferred to hospital at this time died.

He said their families shared the concern that their loved ones’ deteriorating health conditions contributed to their inability to fight off the virus.

Mr Rozen said the inquest, due to begin in November, would look into whether the “Commonwealth left hand knew what the state right hand was doing”.

Department of Health barrister Morgan McLay flagged that his client was dealing with the current Covid-19 crisis and raised concern over the anticipated timing of the hearings.

But John Karantzis, who is representing 66 families through Carbone Lawyers, hit back saying “it is imperative that no further delays occur”.

“We are talking about real people that were in the hands of a trusted facility that were left to starve and die,” he said.

The scene at St Basil’s during a Covid outbreak last year. Picture: Jason Edwards

Coroner John Cain told the court he was “acutely aware” that families were looking for an explanation and understanding into what happened and why, and that he didn’t want to delay the matter.

He acknowledged the grief and loss of families, noting the trauma of not only losing a loved one, but of being cut off from them during their time of need.

“It’s hard to imagine a more difficult and disastrous situation for you,” he said.

The matter has been listed for a further directions hearing in the Coroner’s Court on September 15.

A four-week hearing is expected to begin on November 15.