Infection control officers and mental health support aimed to avoid another COVID-19 aged care catastrophe

Infection control officers will be deployed to all aged care facilities in a bid to fix the “deplorable” conditions found in homes across the sector.

Infection control officers will be deployed to every aged care facility to train staff on lifesaving practices after more than 640 Victorians died in homes during the second coronavirus wave.

The $57.8m training boost is part of the Morrison Government’s response to the aged care royal commission’s damning report which found “deplorable” conditions had left staff traumatised and endangered residents.

Extra mental health support for residents is also part of the new $132m package.

The response to the October 1 report — tabled in parliament after 6pm on Monday night — was slammed as “too little, too late” by the federal opposition.

Royal commissioners Tony Pagone and Lynelle Briggs made six key recommendations, including funding for extra staff to allow for “more meaningful visits between people receiving care and their loved ones”.

Victoria’s aged care sector was at the epicentre of its coronavirus crisis Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The commission also found “there was not a COVID-19 plan devoted solely to aged care” but that the federal government tried to adapt a general plan to the sector.

An updated aged care plan was published in mid-November, with Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck vowing the government would “remain vigilant”.

“Each life lost represents somebody’s mum or dad, grandparent or cherished friend,” he told the Senate.

The commonwealth has also commissioned a national review of all outbreaks, aiming to identify what government agency support could have avoided the horror experienced in Melbourne.

It will be completed by March before a serious incident response scheme is launched in April.

Independent reviews into the Melbourne outbreaks at St Basil’s Home for the Aged and Heritage Care Epping Gardens were due to be handed to the government on Monday.

The Herald Sun understands they were not completed in time and will be released some time in December.

Health Minister Greg Hunt during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House on November 30. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Opposition ageing spokeswoman Julie Collins said the measures were “too little, too late”.

“[The] response makes it clear the Morrison government has failed and is yet to fully implement all of the recommendations of the aged care royal commission’s special report,” she said.

The response was made public shortly after the government was handed the disability royal commission’s special COVID-19 report which found people with disabilities had been “forgotten and ignored” during the pandemic.

Commission chair Ronald Sackville said the government was responsible for a “significant failures” in the way it communicated with people living with disabilities, with recommendations focusing on issues with personal protective equipment and testing.

“People were deprived of essential supports without warning and left without support and therefore bewildered, frightened and sometimes even without food or medication,” he said.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government would respond “as a matter of priority”.

@tamsinroses