St Basil’s inquest: Residents ‘dehydrated, barely conscious’ when transferred to private hospitals

The deeply concerning symptoms of St Basil’s residents evacuated to hospital during a horror Covid outbreak have been revealed in court.

The operators of St Basil’s nursing home in Melbourne have asked to be excused from giving evidence before a coronial inquest into the deaths of 50 residents during a Covid-19 outbreak last year.

Kon Kontis and Vicki Kos were running the St Basil’s aged care home in July last year when the virus swept through the Fawkner facility, leading to the deadliest outbreak in the country.

The pair were due to give evidence next week.

But in a surprise move on Tuesday, a representative appearing on their behalf asked that they be excused from giving evidence, on the grounds they might incriminate themselves.

The application is expected to be opposed by families who lost loved ones in the outbreak.

Coroner John Cain will hear submissions from the interested parties before making a ruling.

50 residents died as a result of the outbreak last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

St Basil’s management came under fire in earlier hearings for serious infection breaches and poor communication.

The inquest heard on Tuesday St Basil’s residents were taken to hospital “barely conscious and dehydrated” just five hours after it was decided to transfer them from the coronavirus-stricken aged care facility.

Healthscope chief medical officer Victoria Atkinson took to the witness stand and spoke about her experience in handling the intake of residents evacuated from St Basil’s Home for the Aged to Bellbird Private Hospital in July last year.

She told the coroners court on Tuesday that she was given five hours notice on July 24 to “hold 20 beds for St Basil’s residents who would be coming over the weekend”.

Dr Atkinson said many of them turned up dehydrated and “barely conscious” on Saturday, July 25.

“Pretty much all of the ones that we received over that weekend had clinical evidence of dehydration,” she told the court.

“All of the residents were either deeply unconscious or barely conscious, so oral intake would have been very challenging.”

Five St Basil’s residents died of neglect, while 45 died of Covid-19. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

Five St Basil’s residents died of neglect, while 45 died of Covid-19 in one of the country’s deadliest outbreaks at an aged care home.

The centre recorded its first positive Covid-19 case on July 9 before St Basil’s staff were then furloughed and replaced by the commonwealth’s Aspen Medical agency workers on July 22.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton made the call to stand down St Basil’s staff.

Department of Health and Human Services assistant director for private hospitals Deb Sudano asked Dr Atkinson to hold 20 beds at Bellbird hospital – specifically for St Basil’s residents – on July 24, the inquest was told.

St Basil’s residents taken to hospital were ‘barely conscious and dehydrated’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Dr Atkinson said the health facility at Blackburn South needed to be quickly converted into a Covid-19 site.

“Non-clinical staff” also needed to be summoned and told they would need to suddenly treat coronavirus patients, Dr Atkinson told the court.

“It’s incredibly difficult to understand the care that you need to provide because at the centre of it, it is what do these people need,” she said.

“The most difficult part of it all was being sure in ourselves that we were ready to give them (the residents) the care that they required.

“We were trying to learn Greek, we were trying to make sure we understood what the families knew or didn’t know.”

Dr Atkinson told the court that calls from Bellbird hospital to St Basil’s frequently went unanswered over the period of the residents being transferred.

All St Basil’s residents were evacuated by July 31. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

She cited one example of a man who phoned Bellbird hospital and was not aware his elderly father was at the facility and had tested positive for Covid-19.

He was also unaware where his mother had been taken, to which Bellbird hospital staff informed him that she was at St Vincent’s Hospital and arranged for her to be moved with her husband at Bellbird.

“The bit that we struggled with the most was what are they going to need from us and how do we anticipate that with very little information.” Dr Atkinson said.

The five-week coronial inquest into the deaths of residents at St Basil‘s will hear from about 65 witnesses, including nurses, centre managers and family members of residents who died.

Originally published as St Basil’s inquest: Residents ‘dehydrated, barely conscious’ when transferred to private hospitals