Elderly patients not vaccinated in Melbourne Covid ward

Family members say elderly, acutely mentally ill people have been left to fall through the cracks after the Royal Melbourne hospital failed to offer them vaccinations.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital has not offered vaccinations to ­patients in its Aged Persons Mental Health Inpatient Unit in Broadmeadows. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Patients in an aged-care mental health unit at the centre of a Covid scare have not been vaccinated, despite relatives pleading for weeks for them to receive their jabs.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital has not offered vaccinations to ­patients in its Aged Persons Mental Health Inpatient Unit in Broadmeadows, instead encouraging family members to get them vaccinated via a GP following their release from the ward.

But relatives say this approach makes no allowance for those who are admitted for extended periods or do not have loved ones who can take them to get vaccinated.

Last weekend one of approximately 20 patients at the unit in Melbourne’s outer north tested positive for the virus, resulting in the furloughing of staff, and the locking down of the ward for at least 14 days. On Thursday, a second patient tested positive.

The family of a woman in her 70s who is nearing the end of a 2½-month stay said they were gravely concerned about her and her fellow patients.

The family – a couple – have asked that their names be withheld to protect the privacy of their relative, who has been receiving electroconvulsive therapy for a psychiatric condition which has seen her spend time in mental health facilities periodically for the past 25 years.

“For weeks we have been asking for a vaccination for her, to no avail,” the female relative said.

“The doctors and nurses in the ward are extremely professional and caring. However, when they have pursued the issue up the line, they have hit a brick wall.”

The male relative said: “Most recently we were told that there were no freezer facilities available.

“With AstraZeneca, all you need is a fridge from Harvey Norman. We don’t understand why they didn’t send a team in to vaccinate everybody months ago.”

The female relative added: “You can imagine our horror when last weekend, a day before (our relative) was to be released, a patient was admitted to the ward and tested positive for Covid.

“Now another patient has ­tested positive. (Our relative) is now a sitting duck, along with everyone else.”

The couple said they had contacted Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley’s office three weeks ago and been advised to contact a disability liaison officer. The officer provided an automated reply offering advice on where the relative could go to be vaccinated after she was released.

A subsequent call to the minister’s office and liaison officer following the first Covid case in the ward elicited a promise to respond to the family’s concerns by the end of the month.

“We’re locked down in NSW so we haven’t been able to take her anywhere to get her vaccinated, and what about all the other ­patients?” the male family member said.

The female family member said the patients had always been at ­increased risk of being infected.

“These are extremely vulnerable people. Some of them are quite mentally disturbed. It’s ­impossible to stop them sharing things and touching things,” she said.

“The system is broken and the most vulnerable are not receiving the care and protection they ­deserve.”

A spokesman for Mr Foley said residents who wanted to be vaccinated “should be given the chance, and the Department of Health is working to immediately fix this”.

A spokeswoman for the ­hospital said the unit had an ­average stay of 10 to 12 days.

“Those with loved ones enrolled in the service are encouraged to have their family member vaccinated by their general practitioner in the community,” the spokeswoman said. “If that is not the case, we seek approval from guardians, powers of attorney and next of kin to assist with vaccination consent.”

Of 802 people who died during Victoria’s second wave last year, 655 were residents of private aged-care facilities.