Judy and her mum live in the same suburb, but lockdown has kept them apart

Psychologist Judy Christian and her mother, Barbara Olliff, live a short walk away from each other in Castle Hill, in Sydney’s north-west.

Despite being within a five-kilometre radius, the pair have not seen each other since the city’s lockdown began on June 26. Rules permitting outdoor recreation with another person do not apply to people who live in aged care homes, like Ms Olliff.

Judy Christian has been unable to see her mother, Barbara Olliff, who lives in an aged care facility in the same suburb, since the lockdown began.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

In a letter to the Herald published on Wednesday, Ms Olliff, 97, said, although she was very well looked after by the staff at her home, she found she had “lost her sense of purpose”. Her daughter said the change in mood was “absolutely tragic”.

“Mum usually enjoys doing things like watercolour painting, she likes reading – but she says she can’t be bothered getting it all out, she can’t focus on it,” Ms Christian said. “To me, as a psychologist, all of those things are classic signs of depression.”

While the fully vaccinated look forward to being able to gather outdoors in groups of five from September 13, there has been no sign of restrictions easing for aged care residents – a population with one of the highest rates of vaccination.

Under the public health order, visitors may enter aged care facilities for “essential caring functions” or an end of life visit. Residents may only leave for “essential reasons”, such as medical appointments.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said aged care residents would be able to accept fully vaccinated visitors when health authorities gave it the green light.

“I suspect it has to do with making sure there’s evidence of full vaccination and also vaccination of workers,” she said. “Our whole aim during this has been to reunite people.”

Ms Berejiklian said NSW was still catching up on vaccinating aged care workers and other cohorts, but she was confident rates of vaccinations would increase by the end of September.

To date, 82.9 per cent of Australia’s 273,214 residential aged care workers, including nurses, personal care workers, administration staff, cooks and cleaners, have had their initial shot. It’s an increase of nearly 10,000 since Monday.

Professor Lee-Fay Low, leader of the University of Sydney’s Ageing and Health Research Group, said visits for “essential caring functions” were being granted very sporadically, or not at all, by some operators.

“It was a provision brought in earlier this year at a national level to really distinguish between casual visitors and a resident’s ‘person’,” she explained, noting she had heard of people who used to visit their spouse or parent every day to groom and feed them but were now not considered essential carers.

Ms Christian agreed. “These people are not considered vulnerable because they have carers, but the residents are psychologically and mentally vulnerable – family visits provide wellbeing beyond physical care.”

Virtual visits, phone calls and online shopping deliveries are keeping aged care residents in contact with loved ones and major operators said they believed the restrictions were unlikely to change.

Head of corporate communications at Anglicare Sydney, Aaron Malouf, said that although the operator was fully supportive of public health initiatives to reduce movement, it was “deeply regretful of the impact this has had on residents and families”.

“We are very aware of the demand from families and friends to see their loved ones in aged care,” he said, noting restrictions did not even allow people to drop off care packages, instead needing to order gifts online.

Mr Malouf said the operator was in discussions with government regarding how visits may be allowed in the future, including with capacity limitations and vaccination requirements.

A Uniting spokesperson said it had been making allowances for family member visits provided they were performing essential caring functions. They said it was likely restrictions would remain in place unless COVID-19 cases dropped “significantly”.

“It is important to note that even when vaccinated, people can still contract and transmit COVID-19, but it does reduce the risk of serious illness,” they said.

While the Premier indicated double dose vaccination would be required for visitors, other nations have not taken this step.

Last month, the UK Department of Health and Social Care released new guidelines for family and friends visiting aged care residents in which vaccination is “strongly recommended”.

A review of international research on the wellbeing of aged care residents, conducted by Professor Low, indicated visitor bans had a “severe” negative impact on their mood and caused anxiety and guilt for loved ones, both due to separation and fear of an outbreak.

Professor Low said more needed to be done to focus on the wellbeing of older people during the lockdown, noting outdoor recreation for the fully vaccinated later this month would be useful for older people who may not be able to leave the house to actually exercise.

“I know we have the singles bubble, but I also think family bubbles would also make a difference to a lot of people,” she said.

“If there’s an older couple and it’s just them at home, being able to have a child come around and help out would be beneficial.”

with Rachel Clun

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