Coronavirus: NSW coroner to examine deaths at Newmarch care home

A NSW coroner will launch an ­inquiry into the outbreak of coronavirus at the Newmarch House aged-care facility in ­Sydney’s west, where 19 residents died.

The entrance to Newmarch House aged-care home in western Sydney. Picture: AAP

A NSW coroner will launch an ­inquiry into the outbreak of coronavirus at the Newmarch House aged-care facility in ­Sydney’s west, where 19 residents died.

On Sunday, the nursing home’s operator, Anglicare, announced all remaining patients had been cleared of the virus, seven weeks after the outbreak began.

However, the state health authority is still weeks away from declaring the facility clear from any traces of COVID-19.

A spokesman for the court said the coroner “has accepted jurisdiction for COVID-19 related deaths of residents of Newmarch House”.

“Police will prepare a brief of evidence for the coroner,” he said.

The virus spread through the home after a healthcare worker tested positive for COVID-19 at the Easter long weekend, having worked multiple shifts while ­unknowingly infectious.

The outbreak has become Australia’s second-largest cluster, after the Ruby Princess cruise ship, with 69 infections.

In evidence to a Senate committee examining the COVID-19 pandemic, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said Anglicare Sydney “was not as well placed as we ­needed them to make right, well-informed decisions and then see that through to immediate ­implementation”.

“The gaps were too large,” she said. “We weren’t getting the ­responsiveness that we expected from an aged-care service managing an outbreak.”

Anglicare chief executive Grant Millard said last month the virus would have been better contained if the infected at the facility had been transferred to hospital rather than treated on-site.

Anthony Bowe, whose 76-year-old mother, Pat Shea, was diagnosed with COVID-19 and among the first 10 people to be infected, said it was “mind-boggling” that residents who had not been infected were “even in the same building” as his mother.

A spokesman for Nepean Hospital said doctors were providing “around-the-clock” care to residents at Newmarch House, but some may have chosen to shun invasive end-of-life care.