‘Deeply disturbing’ aged care claims shock Royal Commission - NEWS.com.au

Aged care providers including some in Victoria have cut staff during the pandemic, the nurses union has claimed at the aged care royal commission.

The probe also heard allegations on Wednesday that more than 1000 aged care workers in Victoria had tested positive to COVID-19, that masks were being kept in locked boxes with only one allowed for workers per shift, and that some providers didn’t have soap, according to the union.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation federal secretary Annie Butler said she was “astonished” that “aged care providers are actually cutting staff right now” in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and NSW.

“We were told (in late April) that some providers had cut staff from the first of March, and over the last month or two, the feedback from members – and even from employers directly – is that their cutting staff has increased,” she said.

Commissioner Lynelle Briggs said she was “shocked and deeply disturbed by some of the evidence we’ve heard this morning”.

“A great deal of what you’ve had to say will come as a surprise to many,” commissioner Tony Pagone told the union figures who spoke on Wednesday.

Ms Butler said registered nurses working in Victorian hospitals had been transferred from a “well-prepared sector” to aged care during the crisis, where they were shocked at the “abject neglect” and “horrific circumstances” they were seeing.

Health Workers Union Victorian secretary Diana Amsar said the union believed more than 1000 workers in aged care had tested positive to the virus.

She said the union did not have access to hard data on this question, but had arrived at that number “based on calls that we have been receiving, and outbound calling” to their members including personal care workers, nurses, cleaners, laundry and kitchen staff and gardeners.

Ms Asmar said it was no surprise low-paid workers in the aged care sector were feeling “like they were at the bottom of the Titanic”.

“Our workers, right now, are traumatised,” she said.

“In the aged care sector, our members cannot get masks, gloves, gowns – today, with this huge death toll, our members are struggling to get a mask. They have to go to the nurse manager in charge to request one, if they can get one.

“The only thing they probably did use was gloves, but we came to a situation where there actually was no soap, no sanitiser for them, and the actual masks were locked up in the medication cupboards where they couldn’t access, and they were told, ‘You are only entitled to one mask per shift.’

“Prior to COVID-19, they were understaffed. Now, today, with the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria, we are seeing more understaffing because there is a huge shortage of staff in aged care.”

United Workers Union secretary Carolyn Smith said during the pandemic a survey of workers in Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia revealed 39 per cent felt they “always” didn’t have time to complete tasks.

“Every single uncompleted task is an older Australian who is not receiving the care that they deserve,” she said.

She said during this stressful time residents “need extra time spent with them – need that moment where you can sit, and hold a hand, sing a song, brush someone’s hair, talk to them – and care workers are saying, again and again, people need a bit of extra time, and we haven’t got that time for them,” she said.

Ms Butler added she had spoken to members who were going to work on their days off to spend time with residents.

“They have an enormous commitment to their residents,” she said.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said “all aged care providers have a responsibility to ensure that they have the appropriate staff required to ensure delivery of quality care and services to their residents.”

“Since March this year, the Government has additionally provided more than $850 million in measures to support and protect senior Australians in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

“This also includes $205 million of sector-wide COVID-19 payment to support residential aged care facilities and $78.3 million to boost the aged care workforce supply.”

GOVERNMENT GRILLED

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy made a last minute appearance at the Royal Commission hearing on Wednesday.

He requested – and was denied – the opportunity to make a statement refuting claims heard by the commission that the federal government did not have a plan for tackling COVID-19 in aged care.

It was the start of a tense hearing between senior counsel assisting the commission Peter Rozen, QC, and Dr Murphy, aged care regulator boss Janet Anderson, and Federal Secretary Deputy Secretary for Ageing and Aged Care Michael Lye.

“This is not an opportunity for you to make speeches,” the senior counsel assisting admonished Mr Lye, at another point telling off the Chief Medical Officer for whispering.

“Did Professor Murphy just whisper to you the answer he suggests you give, Mr Lye?” he asked.

Dr Murphy told the commission the government had a “foundational coronavirus outbreak plan for residential aged care facilities that was launched in March this year, which is a very comprehensive plan of preparedness.”

“We’ve sought, at every stage when we’ve had aged care advice, sector engagement with geriatricians, aged care peak (bodies),” he said.

“Not all of the aged care academics in the country felt that they’ve been given an opportunity to contribute but we’ve sought the experts that we believed were the best available at the time.

“(Aged care regulator Chief Clinical Adviser) Dr Wroth can talk about her involvement in this foundational and comprehensive plan that we launched in early March.”

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson was asked about the four-day delay between the regulator becoming aware of an outbreak at St Basil’s Home for the Aged, the site of one of Victoria’s biggest coronavirus outbreaks, and notifying the federal government.

Mr Rozen said notifying the federal government was “no mere administrative requirement.”

He said the notification worked as the trigger for PPE, surge workforce, supplementary testing and access to resources for an aged care provider struggling with an outbreak.

Ms Anderson said the regulator was “not a first responder,” but that “in hindsight” the regulator should have ensured St Basil’s had informed the federal government of the outbreak.

“In hindsight, that would have appeared to be something that we should have done, and we have now put into place an arrangement to ensure that happens routinely – notwithstanding that that is not our principal role,” she said.

Earlier in the day, NSW Health Deputy Secretary Nigel Lyons answered questions on a document claiming the NSW government hadn’t transferred aged care residents at Newmarch House – where 17 people died – to hospital.

The document – minutes of a meeting between health officials – claimed NSW Health did not want to transfer COVID-positive elderly people to hospital because of “the precedent this would set.”

Dr Lyons said he couldn’t “recall” if the word precedent was used in the meeting.

He said residents weren’t transferred to hospital because of evolving policy.

“Even if you look at the first cases that were diagnosed in NSW, those four cases were admitted into hospital for the course of their condition,” he said.

“We don’t routinely admit COVID-positive people to hospital now for care.

“The vast majority of COVID-positive (people) are cared for in the community, and are rarely admitted to hospital – 10 per cent of all the COVID-positive patients in NSW have been admitted to hospital.

“The vast bulk of them are actually care for in the community setting without admission to hospital at all.”

‘HUNDREDS WILL DIE PREMATURELY’

The federal government was slammed for its handling of COVID-19 in residential aged care on Wednesday by an expert who said he’s been banging the drum of the need for a plan for the sector since February.

Monash University Ageing Research Unit head of health law Joseph Ibrahim ripped into the government for its complacency, which he said caused preventable deaths, during his appearance at the commission.

He tore strips off “people in governance roles”, telling them: “I’m not going to call them leaders, because they’re not leading.

“In my opinion, hundreds of residents are and will die prematurely because people have failed at act.

“All of this was foreseeable.

“There’s a lack of urgency and an attitude of futility, which leads to an absence of action.

“We have the knowledge to do better. We’ve failed because we’ve treated (aged care home) residents as second-class citizens.”

Dr Ibrahim said there had been a need for a national body with aged care expertise to develop a plan for handling COVID-19 within the aged care sector.

“I’m surprised that (Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck) is relying purely on public health specialists and infectious disease specialists to manage aged care when the department and the minister know full well the circumstances in aged care are quite different,” he said.

He said about 70 per cent of deaths from COVID-19 in Australia were from the aged care sector, which was the “second or third” highest rate in the world.

He said he had contacted the federal and state health departments advocating for a national body with expertise in the aged care sector to prepare for the pandemic.

“What I’ve been trying to do for the past five months is find a way to communicate to people that the risk is substantial, and we can’t sit back and relax,” he said.

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2020-08-12 09:00:00Z
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