Coronavirus: just two nurses on for 110 aged, says ADF
Only two nurses were on duty to manage residents at Melbourne’s coronavirus-struck nursing home Epping Gardens when ADF personnel arrived to take over.
Only two nurses were on duty to manage 110 residents at Melbourne’s Epping Gardens nursing home when Australian Defence Force personnel arrived to take control of the coronavirus-hit aged-care facility.
The ADF discovered no staff on the night shift were familiar with the nursing home or any of its residents, and concluded that controls to safeguard against the spread of COVID-19 were “problematic”.
ADF personnel, considered “the SAS of the medical world” by the Morrison government, were brought in to take control of the facility on July 27 after more than 70 residents were diagnosed with coronavirus. Another 22 staff members were infected with COVID-19 by that time.
“On arrival they received a handover from an enrolled nurse. At this time, no staff on the night shift were familiar with the facility or the residents,” the ADF said in response to a question on notice from the Senate inquiry scrutinising the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
“The staff were informed that 70 residents had tested positive to COVID-19 and the remaining 20 residents were symptomatic. It was apparent that infection control procedures were problematic, requiring remediation as a priority.” The centre has since been linked to 218 cases and 35 deaths, making Epping Gardens the nation’s worst-affected nursing home.
Suzanne Agnello, whose mother-in-law Carmela died after contracting the virus at Epping Gardens, said the 92-year-old was riddled with sepsis, dehydrated, coughing and had fluid on her lungs when she was finally admitted to hospital on July 25. She died two days later.
“It was chaos in there, absolute chaos. She died scared and alone,” Ms Agnello said. “The phones were not answered and we were ringing for days. There weren’t enough staff for the residents to be looked after … it was a heartbreaking ending to these beautiful people’s lives.”
Ms Agnello’s husband, Sebastian, the lead plaintiff in a class action against centre operator Heritage Care, made several complaints to Victoria’s Department of Health and Social Services before the ADF was sent in.
Nicole McGuiness, whose mother, Kathleen Gribble, 75, died on August 13 after being taken to hospital from Epping Gardens on July 28, said the families of residents had been under the impression that coronavirus precautions were being followed. However, she said restrictions on visits meant key failures went unnoticed for too long.
“We were under the belief the staff were doing all the proper things like wearing gloves, masks, in a very controlled atmosphere,” she said. “But then once we got that very first email to say one staff member had contracted COVID-19, everything snowballed out of control.”
Ms McGuinness said just 20 minutes after receiving a call from Heritage Care to tell her that her mother had tested positive but was “doing well”, she was told by a doctor he didn’t think she would make it through the night. She died a week later.
A spokesman for Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the government’s workforce surge strategy had been successful in providing immediate and longer-term workforce support over the course of the outbreak.
“A total of 44 staff were supplied to Epping Gardens, in addition to a clinical first responder, Austin, Ramsay and the Australian Defence Force,” he said.
“There were instances where Epping Gardens cancelled shifts at late notice, did not allow workforce surge staff onsite, or left staff waiting outside for hours before being turned away. Other staff reported being underutilised.”
Opposition aged-care spokeswoman Julie Collins said it was clear the Morrison government’s strategy had failed.
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