The Prime Minister has issued a "strong reminder" to aged care providers not to impose harsher visitor rules than those recommended by health experts.
Key points:
- Scott Morrison says visits are important for residents' wellbeing
- Health advice is two visits per day in rooms only
- Residents should be allowed into common areas and don't need to spend all their time in their rooms
Speaking after the latest meeting of National Cabinet today, Scott Morrison said the issue of visitors being banned was considered by the group of state and territory leaders.
"We are very concerned about the impact of restrictions that had been put in place in aged care facilities over and above what was recommended by the National Cabinet," he said.
"There is great concern that the isolation of elderly people in residential care facilities where they have been prevented from having any visitors.
"[It] is not good for their wellbeing, [it] is not good for their health."
The original advice from National Cabinet for aged care providers was that residents could have two visits a day by close relatives and support people.
The visits must be in residents' rooms but there was no advice barring residents from spending time in other parts of the facilities like common rooms.
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Mr Morrison said while there was a need for extra awareness and safety around aged care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic, some facilities needed to revise their rules.
"National Cabinet agreed there needs to be a strong reminder that [the] decision was to not shut people off or to lock them away in their rooms," he said.
"That was never the recommendation nor the advice of the National Cabinet."
Mr Morrison said he knew many people were staying in touch with their elderly relatives remotely but stressed the importance of in-person visits as well.
"I just want to remind people that that is still an interaction that we think is positive," he said.
Stopping visits 'not reasonable', Chief Medical Officer says
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said there were a range of measures in place in facilities to make visits safe for residents, staff and loved ones.
Those include anyone working at a facility being eligible for a COVID-19 test and more personal protective equipment being sent to the sector.
"Protection is best achieved by ensuring that nobody, nobody, enters an aged care facility if they are in any way unwell," Dr Murphy said
"But as the Prime Minister has said, it is not reasonable in a situation as we are now, where community outbreaks are not in existence, to lock poor residents away from their family.
"It's not reasonable or fair to people who may have been used to getting their family coming every day, who may have dementia, to be denied access to their families."
Dr Murphy urged providers to continue to screen visitors but to be "proportionate" when it came to their rules around visitation.
He also said the Government's moves to ramp up its response to outbreaks in aged care facilities should provide confidence that any future outbreak would be managed effectively.
What you need to know about coronavirus:
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2020-04-21 06:49:03Z
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