Aged care sector gets extra $132m in funds after royal commission report

It follows the royal commission’s special report that criticised “deplorable” infection control regimes at some nursing homes.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

An extra $132.2m will be funnelled into the aged care sector following the royal commission’s special report that criticised “deplorable” infection control regimes at some nursing homes and called for more staffing following the deaths of more than 650 elderly residents.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the new funding would help deliver on the royal commission’s recommendations, which include increasing the number of subsidised mental and allied health visits that elderly residents can access, as well as the roll-out of specialised infection prevention staff across the nation’s facilities.

“While we hope there isn‘t another COVID-19 outbreak in aged care facilities or home care, we are dedicated to putting everything in place quickly to ensure our senior Australians are protected throughout the pandemic and through the COVID recovery phases,” he told the Senate on Monday.

Senator Colbeck said he was delighted to report that there had been no active cases of COVID-19 in aged care recipients since October 28.

The government accepted all six recommendations in October but, in its response tabled on Monday, said the establishment of a national aged care plan and greater funding to support surge workforce capacity had already been delivered.

The issue of a specific national COVID-19 plan for aged care has been a source of contention throughout the pandemic with Senator Colbeck previously declaring the government did have a plan — the Communicable Disease Network Australia guidelines — which the government had been “continuously building and adapting” since January 2020.

“The Updated National COVID-19 Aged Care Plan (7th Edition) was endorsed by the AHPPC and noted at national cabinet on 13 November 2020,” the report says.

Other recommendations — such as all nursing homes being required to have one or more trained infection control officers as a condition of accreditation — are still “in progress.”

“The Australian Government has accepted this recommendation and provided funding of $217.6 million to residential aged care providers in October (as part of a $245 million measure), to be used for COVID-19 preparedness and response,” the report says.

Opposition aged care spokeswoman Julie Collins said the government’s response was too little too late and showed the government had failed to deliver on the royal commission’s urgent to-do list of what was needed to get the nation’s aged care preparedness up to scratch.

“Nothing will bring back the 685 older Australians who have tragically died in aged care homes from COVID-19 and today’s response isn’t enough to stop this happening again,” she said.

“The Royal Commission’s special report confirmed the Morrison Government had no plan for COVID-19 in aged care and called for immediate action.”