Coronavirus Australia: Aged Care Royal Commission report reveals families left wondering who was in charge

A damning report has revealed the government failed to act on one particularly important aspect of the COVID pandemic.

Australia failed to learn the lessons of early COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes according to the aged care royal commission and that failure left many residents and families wondering “who is in charge?”.

A special report into the impact of the pandemic on aged care facilities has found that the Morrison Government had no specific plan for COVID-19 in the sector despite claims there was a plan in place.

Disturbingly, it finds that the early lessons of the outbreaks at Newmarch House in NSW were not applied in Victoria as the virus quickly took hold.

“By the time daily infection rates began to rise in the community in Victoria in mid-June 2020, Australia had experienced two significant COVID-19 outbreaks in residential aged care homes. It is unclear whether the lessons learnt from those outbreaks were shared widely before community transmission put people living and working in aged care in Victoria at risk,” the report states.

“Confused and inconsistent messaging from providers, the Australian Government, and State and Territory Governments emerged as themes in the submissions we have received on COVID-19.

“All too often, providers, care recipients and their families, and health workers did not have an answer to the critical question: who is in charge? At a time of crisis, such as this pandemic, clear leadership, direction and lines of communication are essential.”

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Newmarch House in Sydney’s west was hit by a coronavirus outbreak. Picture: Damian Shaw

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It calls for an immediate funding boost to provide improved infection control and a “concierge system” to help allow families to safely visit their loved ones.

The urgent areas that the inquiry calls for action on include: the deployment of accredited infection prevention and control experts into aged care homes across Australia, more funding to providers to ensure there are adequate staff available to deal with external visitors, and a new Medicare Benefits Schedule to increase the provision of allied health and mental health services.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck confirmed the Morrison Government would accept all of the recommendations in the report.

Three in four Australians who have died from COVID-19 were living in aged care facilities prompting calls for an urgent overhaul of the sector.

However, Mr Colbeck insisted that Australia was in a “good position” in relation to aged care compared to other countries internationally.

“Our position and management of the virus in aged care and the statistics on a global basis which places us in a good position, acknowledging that every single mortality and death in aged care as a result of COVID-19 is an absolute tragedy and again, we extend our condolences to all of the families who have lost loved ones through COVID-19. But we do appreciate the statistics that have been noted by the commission in the report is a global comparison,” he said.

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Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck. Picture: Sean Davey.

The report warns thousands of elderly residents have been confined to their rooms without visitors for weeks and months at a time despite little evidence that visitors have caused infections.

In a disturbing insight into the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on all residents, depression and anxiety among the elderly who have sometimes not received visitors for months is on the rise.

“Now is not the time for blame. There is too much at stake. We are left in no doubt that people, governments and government departments have worked tirelessly to avert, contain and respond to this human tragedy,” the report states.

Ms Julie Kelly, a psychologist, told the inquiry that “for a lot of the residents, there’s a real, real strong sense of hopelessness, of not knowing when this is going to end or being able to see any changes for them”.

“There is a balance to be struck between limiting the likelihood of an outbreak of COVID-19 and ensuring residents can receive visitors,” the report states.

“We note that Mr Michael Lye, Deputy Secretary for Ageing and Aged Care in the Australian Department of Health, specifically said, when giving evidence, that he was not aware of any cases where visitation has resulted in a case of COVID-19 within a facility.”

Medical workers evacuate a resident from the Epping Gardens aged care facility on July 30. Picture: William West/AFP

The 38-page report released today by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety follows a request that the inquiry to expand its terms of reference to probe the sector’s response to the pandemic.

The report warns the aged care sectors’ staff are now “traumatised” by what they have experienced.

“The Interim Report noted that the aged care workforce is under-resourced and overworked,‘’ the report states.

“It is now also traumatised. Care workers develop close relationships with residents. Many are grieving for residents who have died after contracting COVID-19. Others are anxious about bringing the virus into their workplace or home to their loved ones.”