Coronavirus: Victoria’s aged care response centre ramps up

The new Victorian aged care response centre will today begin co-ordinating the workforce and personal protective equipment to prevent the further spread of coronavirus at nursing homes.

VICTORIA’S aged care sector is facing significant challenges as the state records its largest day of COVID-19 cases yet, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned.

The state recorded 532 new coronavirus cases and six deaths, five related to aged-care.

Speaking in Sydney on Monday, Mr Morrison said Australians must continue to follow social distancing and health measures to protect vulnerable people.

“We must keep doing that until there is a vaccine,” he said.

“It is important to understand that the challenges, and they are significant in the aged care sector, are a reminder that when community transmission occurs with COVID-19, the aged care sector will all be impacted.”

The comments come as the new Victorian aged care response centre works to preventing the spread of coronavirus at nursing homes.

State and federal health and emergency agencies, defence and Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission staff will co-ordinate the efforts from Monday.

Figures on Monday morning showed that almost 300 aged care residents have contracted the virus as well as more than 281 staff.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison one of the things that has really marked Australia‘s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the way the states, territories and the Federation has worked together like never before. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Mr Morrison said there will be lessons out of Victoria’s second wave but that was not his focus.

“I just have one job and that is to give Daniel Andrews and the Victorian government all I can to help him and help Victorians and that is certainly what we are doing as a Federal Government,” he said.

“Tracing is clearly a challenge and that is why so much of the effort and resources has been put into that area.”

Mr Morrison said New South Wales had got on top of its outbreaks with a “very effective” tracing operation.

“But they would be first to tell you they are not out of the woods yet,” he said.

Mr Morrison also announced he was re-establishing the COVID-19 Coordination Commission, led by Nev Power, as an advisory board with some new members.

“I have asked the Commission to concentrate its efforts and business expertise on providing advice on what more could be done to create as many jobs as quickly as possible to accelerate Australia’s economic recovery,” Mr Morrison said.

Commission chairman Nev Power said the new board would include: Mike Hirst, Samantha Hogg, Su McCluskey, Bao Hoang, Laura Berry and Paul Howes.

They join existing members Jane Halton, Paul Little and David Thodey. While Catherine Tanna will stand down.

Mr Power said commissioners had a broad range of experience and networks across Australian business, small-to-medium-sized businesses, agriculture and regional Australia.

Earlier on Monday, Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck defended Victorian nursing homes saying they are doing “exceptionally well” in handling the virus.

“I think they are doing a really great job,” he told ABC RN.

“The virus is going into facilities with workers that don’t realise they have it.”

He said all Victorian aged care workers should be wearing a mask and disputed claims there was a shortage, saying the Government had provided five million.

Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck says not to blame aged care staff who didn’t know they were infected and attended work. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

“We are not sparing a dollar in response to this,” Mr Colbeck said.

Co-ordinating the workforce, which can only work with one provider in an attempt to stop employees spreading the virus between facilities, is also top of the agenda.

The new agreement to stop staff going to multiple facilities will come into effect on Monday and follows talks between the union and the sector.

Residential facilities with positive coronavirus cases are being managed case-by-case.

Residents at Menarock Life at Essendon have been moved from the virus-plagued facility.

Some residents at St Basil’s Home for the Aged at Fawkner have also been evacuated to take pressure off the system.

Private hospitals beds will also be freed to enable infected facilities to transfer residents there.

Mr Colbeck on Sunday held an online meeting with families of residents at St Basil’s who were concerned about the health and wellbeing of their loved ones.

Opposition aged care spokeswoman, Julie Collins, said lessons should have be learnt from the outbreaks in aged care in NSW.

“It is not okay for the government to say we are doing everything we can,” she said.

“The government should have done more before the outbreak occurred in Victoria.”