Andrews’ admission in Victoria aged care debacle: ‘Wouldn’t let my mum there’
A stunning remark by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been attacked by Health Minister Greg Hunt and described as “dangerous”.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has slammed Victorian Premier Dan Andrews‘ claim he wouldn’t let him mum live in some private aged care facilities.
An emotional Mr Hunt revealed today his own father had lived in an aged care facility in the final days of his life and he didn‘t believe casting blame over the COVID-19 outbreak was useful.
“My father lived in one, yes. It‘s a difficult decision for any family and it’s a difficult time. My father lived in one and we knew that that meant he was in the latest stages of his life,’’ he said.
“I cannot imagine better care that my family and my father could have got and I speak, I think, for hundreds of thousands of families around the country.
“So, yes. The idea that our carers, that our nurses are not providing that care, I think, is a dangerous statement to make. They are wonderful human beings and I will not hear a word against them.”
Mr Andrews declared infection control is so poor in some private nursing homes in the state that he would not let his mother be cared for in the aged care facilities.
Hundreds of Victorians living in private nursing homes with COVID-19 outbreaks will be moved to public hospitals or cared for by army nurses after he declared “no confidence” in infection control in some homes.
“I would not let my mum be in some of these places, I just wouldn’t,’’ he said.
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As a result of the decision to rush nurses into the aged care homes, all but the most urgent elective surgery will be suspended again in the state as public hospital nurses and the army are deployed to fight the coronavirus and staff shortages in aged care homes where outbreaks have taken hold.
The state’s Health Minister, Jenny Mikakos, fought back tears today while discussing the “distressing” situation at St Basil’s aged care and the impact on the tight-knit Greek Community.
“As I explained, it is not always possible to transfer everybody. We have very frail and elderly people in these nursing homes and in some cases they have dementia and it is very challenging and stressful for an elderly person to be moved in those particular circumstances,’’ she said.
“But we will always act on the basis of clinical care advice and we have a team of doctors and nurses available from our hospitals who are assisting these nursing homes and assisting the Commonwealth Government at this very challenging time.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today he would cut short a trip to Queensland to work on the aged care crisis as Mr Andrews declared “the Commonwealth has asked for assistance and we are providing that” in relation to the aged care crisis.
There are now 769 active cases linked to nursing homes in the state with the majority of the death toll now affecting seniors living in aged care.
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Mr Andrews confirmed six additional deaths, including four of those are linked to aged care.
“I cannot stand here and tell you that I have confidence that staff and management across a number of private sector aged care facilities are able to provide the care that is appropriate to keep their residents safe,’’ he said.
“I won’t stand here also and say, ‘oh, well, this is just a Commonwealth Government matter’. We don’t run this sector but the residents in these homes are all Victorians. The Commonwealth Government has asked for help and that is exactly what my Government and our agencies will provide to them.
“So it is with some regret, but a sense of absolute urgency that I need to announce that elective surgery other than for Category 1 and the most urgent Category 2 patients will be suspended forthwith. We will do our level best to honour those booked surgeries, so scheduled surgeries, but that will not run for very long.”
Mr Andrews said the Victorian Government would move immediately to deploy hospital nurses into the aged care sector to improve infection control.
“Victorian Government-employed registered nurses, into a number of aged care settings where there are outbreaks to provide care and support to essentially take over the clinical care of residents in those settings,’’ he said.
“Some of the stories we’ve heard, some of what’s gone on in some of these settings is simply not acceptable and it’s not about blame, it’s not about demarcations and having disputes about who is in charge of what. It’s just about getting on and getting this done. The Commonwealth Government - I’ve spoken with the Prime Minister. Ministers have been speaking. Officials have been speaking. It was a very long night, but this is a critical challenge. The Commonwealth have asked for assistance. They’ve asked for certain things and that’s exactly what they will get.”
For families concerned about relatives and friends in aged care, Mr Andrews said this did not mean all seniors would get hospital
“So just to be clear, though. This does not mean that every resident in an aged care facility, a private sector aged care facility, that has an outbreak, will be moved en masse to a public, or indeed to a private, hospital,’’ he said.
“It will always be based on clinical need.”
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Earlier, the Prime Minister said just over 80 facilities out of just over 430 in Victoria had been affected.
“And I’ll be returning to Canberra later this morning to engage directly again over the course of this week. I had been planning to be in Queensland for the next few days,’’ he said.
“Now, the situation in Victoria aged care is very complex. You have a combination of the community transmission, which is widespread in Melbourne, finding its way into many facilities. And in particular it has found its way into the aged care workforce.”
The Prime Minister said the outbreaks were forcing hundreds of aged care workers to isolate.
“Now, the standing-down, necessarily, of many in that workforce has had a very significant disruption to the provision of care in those facilities,’’ he said.
“And last night in particular we had ADF officers, nurses, being put into a night shift in a Melbourne facility, and we were able to arrange that quite late in the evening, about 11pm. And so there is no effort being spared to ensure that we can get the people to the places they need to be.
“There is disruption and we would ask for patience.”
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