Coronavirus: Aged-care warning as cases climb and adviser steps in

The aged-care regulator has warned nursing home provider Anglicare it expects an immediate improvement in its handling of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard. Picture: Getty Images

The aged-care regulator has warned nursing home provider Anglicare that it expects to see an immediate “significant improvement” in its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak that has ripped through Newmarch House in Sydney’s west, leaving 16 residents dead.

On a day when three more Newmarch House staff members were found to have contracted the virus — bringing the overall total at the facility to 69 — Anglicare on Thursday accepted the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s demand for a raft of actions to ­protect the health and safety of the remaining residents.

The terms include appointing an independent adviser tasked with ensuring the safety and wellbeing of residents, and closing the home to new care recipients until otherwise notified. Failing to agree by 5pm Thursday would have put the nursing home’s licence to provide aged care at risk.

After the agreement was signed, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson issued a statement saying she expected an immediate turnaround in performance at Newmarch House.

“Having received agreement from Anglican Community Ser­­vices that it will undertake all the ­actions specified in the notice, I would expect to see significant ­improvement … in the immediate future,” Ms Anderson said.

The commission’s notice, sent to Anglicare just a day earlier, cited a range of concerns about the nursing home’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, including a lack of systems and processes to control it, and a lack of information provided to the residents’ families about the status of the nursing home’s response.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard on Thursday apologised for the deaths, both those at Newmarch House and emanating from the Ruby Princess cruise ship, but denied his government bore responsibility for the fatalities.

Giving evidence at a parliamentary hearing into the NSW government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Hazzard said he was sorry about the high number of deaths but maintained that NSW was “leading the world” in its containment of the virus.

“Now, none of that detracts from me saying that I’m sorry that people have lost loved ones — that’s an extremely sad situation,” Mr Hazzard told the inquiry.

“But also that’s what is happening across the world, and so we need to be cognisant of the fact that the government, as have all Labor and Liberal governments around the country, has done an extraordinary job working with the community.”

Late on Thursday, Anglicare announced that it had appointed Andrew Kinkade as the external adviser for the next three months, having agreed to all the commission’s demands.

“We are very pleased to have Andrew as an adviser at this extremely difficult time,” Anglicare chief executive Grant Millard said.

While NSW Health confirmed two of the three additional NSW cases announced on Thursday were staff at Newmarch House, Anglicare later said another staff member had also tested positive within the past 24 hours.

All three are self-isolating.

“The positive test results were discovered during our rigorous testing regime applied to all staff working at Newmarch House, which is now being conducted every second day,” an Anglicare spokesman said.

Thirty-two staff members and 37 residents have so far contracted the virus.

“Anglicare continues to be advised and guided by an infection control specialist and other clinicians, generously provided by government, and we are appreciative of their expertise and ongoing support,” the spokesman said.

Having earlier described the outbreak as “one of the most devastating in Australia” and a “tragic situation” for residents and their families, Ms Anderson said the commission continued to “fully exercise its regulatory authority to mitigate risk to residents and staff in Newmarch House”.

“We continue to work closely with the commonwealth Department of Health to identify and ­address issues and ensure that every effort is made to protect each resident’s safety and wellbeing.”