Defence to start helping hardest-hit aged care homes from Wednesday

The first four teams of military personnel will be deployed to aged care facilities in “extreme situations” due to the Omicron outbreak, weeks after the sector first asked for Defence help.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Australian Defence Force personnel would be made available in a targeted effort to support existing workforces as they dealt with outbreaks and staffing shortages.

Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton announced the ADF would be deployed to help in aged care facilities.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s a significant issue. It’s a difficult issue. It’s an issue that’s been caused by the fact that we have large numbers of people who are contracting COVID,” he told reporters on Monday.

But Mr Morrison said the ADF could not fill all the gaps. The sector estimates as many as 140,000 shifts are going unfilled each week.

“You want qualified people providing care,” he said.

Teams of 50, which will include a registered nurse, medical technicians and personnel to help with general duties and administration, will be deployed in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia from February 9.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said it was a “significant intervention” by the ADF. Up to 200 personnel in each state and territory could eventually be available to help facilities battling COVID-19 issues.

“Up to 1700 of our personnel will provide assistance at our aged care facilities and in particular at those that are most in need,” he said.

Labor’s aged care services spokeswoman, Clare O’Neill, said the sector had been in crisis before the pandemic, and the added burden of coronavirus had created a dangerous situation for older Australians.

“The decision today makes it absolutely clear: there is an emergency in aged care,” she said.

“This emergency is an entirely foreseeable consequence of a government that has learned nothing in its now-third year managing the pandemic.”

Aged care providers and unions have been calling for ADF support for weeks as the Omicron wave spread, infecting thousands of residents and workers. There have been more than 530 coronavirus deaths in the sector this year.

Asked why it has taken so long to bring in the military, Mr Morrison said the plan was put in place “several weeks ago”. On January 13, he hosed down suggestions the ADF could help, saying: “Not anyone can just go into an aged care centre and provide care.”

On Monday, Mr Morrison pointed to the government support provided to the sector throughout the pandemic, including $400 bonuses for staff in a bid to retain skilled care workers, but acknowledged the current staffing shortfall was “a very significant issue”.

“It’s a tough challenge. And we’d be kidding ourselves as a country if we didn’t think the pandemic has impacts. It does. You seek to mitigate them as best you can. But that doesn’t mean you can mitigate them all,” Mr Morrison said.

Aged care providers have called for a concrete plan for dealing with future outbreaks and approached the federal government with a plan for a National Aged Care COVID Co-ordination Centre.

The Australian Aged Care Collaboration, a coalition of six provider peak bodies, said the Defence support would make a practical difference to facilities on the ground.

“We look forward to discussing the development in more detail with the government at the earliest opportunity,” it said in a statement.

Health and aged care will continue to be major issues into 2022 and Mr Morrison said a new health minister would be named ahead of the election, which is due by May. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced last year he would retire at the end of the parliamentary term.

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