The Aged Care Royal Commission's special report on the response to COVID-19 has been well received by peak bodies representing providers and older Australians, but one prominent advocate says the report should have gone further.
Key points:
- A man whose mother died in an aged care home says the report shows the system was not prepared
- One advocate says the report was an "indictment" of the Government and regulators
- Peak bodies are pleased access to hospital care and visitors in aged care facilities have been identified as key issues
"I think it's a really good report," said Pat Sparrow, chief executive of Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA), which represents not-for-profit aged care providers.
"It picks up the key recommendations and issues that, you know, certainly a number of our members who are on the … frontline every day in terms of battling COVID have been raising with us."
The special report made six recommendations regarding the response in aged care to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck has already said the Government accepts all the recommendations.
Ms Sparrow said it was particularly gratifying to see the Royal Commission recommend funding to ensure adequate staff to allow continued visits to people living in aged care.
"This recommendation around making sure that there is support and that providers are funded to be able to do this is really important," she said.
The royal commission heard evidence about the impact of cutting residents off from visitors.
"COVID-19 has seen a large increase in depression, anxiety and confusion," the report said.
"The risk of suicide in residential aged care has increased."
Lack of plan an 'indictment' of Government and regulators
Chief Advocate for National Seniors Australia, Ian Henschke, said the report said the industry needed to ensure that people in aged care could get visitors.
"It confirms what we've been saying and that was that there were unnecessary lockdowns keeping people out of aged care facilities," he said.
One recommendation in the report calls for the establishment of a national aged care plan for COVID-19, to be run through the National Cabinet with input from the aged care sector.
"That's a bit of a heads-must-roll recommendation," said prominent aged care advocate Lynda Saltarelli from Aged Care Crisis.
"The recommendation for a national aged care plan for COVID, that's pretty much an indictment of the regulators and Government.
"I mean, almost a year into the pandemic and we still don't have a national plan."
Spiros Vasilakis, whose mother died during the COVID-19 outbreak at St Basil's home in Melbourne, shared that assessment.
"The finding was that the aged care system was not prepared," he said.
"What I and others who have lost loved ones — even those, you know, currently, have said for a long time they weren't prepared.
"This is despite being told that they had all the PPE ready to go. How is it that they weren't prepared?"
Ms Saltarelli called the report "a little bit underdone" — largely because none of the recommendations addressed the failings of the federal regulator, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
"Since the start of a pandemic, they visited just 30 of the 220 nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks. That's like just over 10 per cent. So there was nothing in any of their recommendations to address the shortcomings," she said.
"At the least, they could have made recommendations such as the regulatory framework, [they] could have mandated more visits."
Government urged to act now report is out
The special report says: "Now is not the time for blame … however the nation needs to know what lessons have been and can still be learnt."
One of those lessons is to establish clarity when outbreaks occur in aged care homes.
The royal commission heard evidence there was no agreement about whether residents diagnosed with COVID-19 should be transferred to hospital or stay in the aged care residence.
"There is no one size fits all," the report said.
But it also stated that equal access to the hospital system is the fundamental right of all Australians young or old regardless of where they lived.
"We're really pleased to see today that the royal commission has picked up on the issue of the need for older Australians to have equal access to hospital care," ACSA chief Pat Sparrow said.
"We think that's really important for the individual older person, for them to get the care and support that they need, but also to help us to try and minimise or stop the spread in facilities where there may be another hundred people living."
The special report also recommended the deployment of infection control specialists to aged care homes to train and assist staff.
Mr Henschke said now that the report has been delivered, it was clear what the Government had to do.
"The Prime Minister called the royal commission because he said he wanted to restore faith in the system," Mr Henschke said.
"The royal commission is telling him how to do it. It's up to the Government to then put the resources there, both in manpower and money, to make it happen."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTEwLTAyL2FnZWQtY2FyZS1zZWN0b3Itd2VsY29tZXMtcm95YWwtY29tbWlzc2lvbi1yZXBvcnQtY29yb25hdmlydXMvMTI3MjM2NDjSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTI3MjM2NDg?oc=5
2020-10-01 19:52:00Z
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