St Basil’s inquest: Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says order to stand down staff ‘conditional’

Brett Sutton claims his orders to stand down St Basil’s workers, which led to some residents dying of neglect, were “conditional” — despite no-one on the ground being aware.

Brett Sutton leaves the court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton claims his fateful orders to stand down all St Basil’s workers, which led to some residents dying of neglect, were “conditional” — despite no-one on the ground being aware.

The inquest into the deaths of 50 residents heard that finding replacement healthcare workers amid the second Covid-19 wave in July 2020 was “near impossible”.

But Prof Sutton said he did not know that, nor did he ask about that “crucial piece of the puzzle” when he made his orders to stand down workers at the infected Fawkner aged care home on July 22.

He gave evidence that he also did not know about dire warnings against the stand down plan from doctors who labelled it a “shocking idea”, from St Basil’s managers and from the Commonwealth who feared finding replacement workers “may not be do-able”.

Between 30 and 60 Commonwealth agency staff replaced 120 experienced St Basil’s workers on the morning of July 22 — but Prof Sutton told the court the St Basil’s workers shouldn’t have left if there wasn’t “appropriate staff in place to take over”.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton leaves the Coroners Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

“My direction had the caveat that the furloughing would only take place when an appropriate workforce was in place,” he said.

“I understood it to be a critical and necessary component for that handover to occur and for the furloughing to commence.

“I think everyone understands you wouldn't send staff home if there were no sign of replacement staff on the 22nd.”

But counsel assisting Peter Rozen QC pointed out that “no-one at St Basil’s on the 22nd of July had that understanding of your direction”.

This crucial issue meant that under Prof Sutton’s misunderstood orders, St Basil's staff could have remained at the home and continued to care for residents.

Prof Sutton was also “open” to having senior St Basil’s staff isolate on-site to help with the handover and continuity of care — but under his direction, all workers were ordered to quarantine “at home”.

The failed staff handover to a dwindling and inexperienced surge workforce meant the residents who stayed behind at St Basil’s suffered dehydration and starvation, didn’t get medications and were left in soiled beds and nappies.

Contaminated waste piled up at St Basil's on July 25, after the surge work force was put in place. Picture: Supplied

Asked if the inadequate care of residents played a part in a higher case fatality, Prof Sutton replied: “I think it may have for some of the residents”.

He agreed that “knowing what we know now”, his orders could have been more explicit.

The court heard Prof Sutton was neither present, nor was he briefed, by anyone who was present at meetings where replacement agency staff were found to be “notoriously difficult” to source.

Peter Rozen QC said counsel assisting would “ultimately submit to His Honour that this was a very big gap in your knowledge base for making this decision”.

Prof Sutton replied that one in three people infected with Covid-19 in aged care died, and he was seeking to reduce the infection rate.

“It’s an extraordinarily difficult set of risks to balance,” Prof Sutton said.

“It’s very clear that there are these awful trade-offs in the provision of care and welfare against the risk of transmission, which I regard as very substantial if staff had stayed on.”

But Mr Rozen pointed out the fatality rate at St Basil’s was 48 per cent of residents — “it’s the highest of any outbreak in a residential aged care facility in Australia”.

Despite all this, Prof Sutton said he believed at the time, and still now, that his decision to stand down St Basil’s staff was “correct” and gave “the greatest chance at saving lives”.

He acknowledged the “tragic loss” of the 50 residents and the pain it caused their loved ones.

“I want to express my heartfelt sorrow for the suffering that they’ve gone through.”

Originally published as St Basil’s inquest: Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says order to stand down staff ‘conditional’