Over 100 nursing homes ‘non-compliant’ with COVID-19 preparedness

More than 100 nursing homes across the nation failed federal standards brought in to ensure they were prepared for a COVID-19 outbreak.

An elderly resident is taken away from a Melbourne aged-care facility following a spike in COVID-19 cases. Picture: David Crosling

More than 100 nursing homes across the nation failed federal compliance standards to ensure they were prepared for a COVID-19 outbreak and were served with warnings prior to Victoria’s second wave.

The Australian can reveal that while the names of 29 of the non-compliant facilities have been made public, 75 have been kept ­secret from the public and residents’ families.

In an answer to a question on notice from the Senate inquiry scrutinising the government’s response to the pandemic, it was revealed that between March 1 and May 31 of this year, 104 nursing homes failed to comply with the regulator’s required COVID-19 prevention standards.

While the government has provided the committee with a list of 29 homes served with non-compliant notices — including the ill-fated Newmarch House in western Sydney at the centre of an outbreak that claimed 19 lives — most homes remain a secret.

The document reveals that two homes were sent sanctions, four were sent notices to agree to improvements in COVID-19 preparedness and 23 received non-compliance notices.

The majority were sent “directions to revise plan for continuous improvement”, with 75 unknown facilities required to explain to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission how they would address the issues of concern and achieve compliance within an agreed timeframe.

Providers face sanctions such as having their funding or ­approval withdrawn if they fail to heed warnings.

Opposition aged-care spokeswoman Julie Collins slammed the government for not providing Australians with the full list of nursing homes found to be non-compliant.

“I have been saying for a long time there needs to be more transparency around the reporting of failures in nursing homes so older Australians and their loved ones know what is happening,” she said.

“We know how devastating COVID-19 has been in nursing homes so it is deeply disappointing failures relating to outbreak preparedness have been kept hidden.

“Families, loved ones and residents deserve full transparency and to know whether a nursing home is safe.”

The revelation comes as Victoria recorded its highest daily death toll on Wednesday, with 12 of the 15 deaths recorded overnight linked to aged-care facilities.

The total active cases with a connection to the Victorian aged-care sector is 1435.

The number of Victorians in hospital with the virus rose from 456 to 538 people on Wednesday, including 42 in intensive care.

State Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday said the number of people in hospitals had risen primarily because of the transfer of residents from aged-care facilities to hospitals.

“A lot of transfers are not for clinical (reasons), not because they’re sick but because of infection control reasons,” Mr Andrews said. “But they’re all important and taking someone from an aged-care (facility), this is their home and obviously very disruptive for residents.”

The Menarock Rosehill facility in Highett in Melbourne’s southeast was on Wednesday told by ACQSA to immediately appoint an independent adviser to “guide them back to compliance” after a delegate determined there was an “immediate and severe risk” to the health of its residents amid an outbreak at the home.

At the inquiry on Tuesday, Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck drew the ire of Greens senator Rachel Siewert when he suggested it was appropriate for some aged-care providers to keep active coronavirus cases secret on the proviso families were notified.