Aged care facilities should not be banning all visitors, but should be complying with the government’s “clear and sensible” guidelines, Australia’s peak body for older people has said.
A statement from Council on the Ageing said some aged care providers are using the new restrictions as an “excuse” for “unacceptable restraint on the rights of residents and families”.
COTA is calling on aged care providers to ensure they implement the guidelines in a manner that is “sensible, compassionate, respectful and proportionate” for residents and families.
But Ian Yates, chief executive of COTA, said some providers are adopting the “cookie cutter” and “top down” approach of banning all visitors in a way that lacks “sensitivity and common-sense”.
The decision by some operators to place a total ban on visitors has many in the industry worried.
In an aged care system already branded with the title “neglect” by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, some are saying this is not the time to ban visitors from aged care facilities.
Visitors – family, friends – are usually a resident’s best advocate, and one industry insider we spoke to said there are concerns care standards could deteriorate if visitors are not there to look out for their loved ones.
HelloCare readers have also told us that total visitor bans are leaving families and residents distressed and causing them to lash out, making the work of carers even more difficult at an already extremely busy and vexing time.
Mr Yates said the government’s latest guidelines provide “clarity and consistency” and are appropriate for keeping vulnerable residents safe and to prevent the spread of the disease.
The measures also have a suitable degree of flexibility. For example, in circumstances where a resident is in their final days and receiving palliative care, families should be able to negotiate spending time with their loved one.
Visitor bans on residents living with dementia can be particularly detrimental, Mr Yates said.
“Contact with family and loved ones is a crucial part of care for many aged care residents, such as those with dementia,” said Mr Yates.
“An example is the elderly wife who comes each day to sit and talk for hours with her husband with advanced dementia.
“If she is prevented from doing this her husband will become anxious, disoriented and have behavioural problems and the facility will have to spend more staff time with him, or he will end up being drugged.”
“Today I talked to a major provider with very strict visiting rules, who would nevertheless enable this wife, while following all hygiene precautions, to continue visiting as usual in the name of both compassionate care and sensible management,” Mr Yates said.
“The same compassionate provider has a tougher than government recommended restriction of one visitor at a time, but if a daughter brings her frail mother to visit the dementing father – that’s two people, and it’s okay, because that’s compassionate care.”
“But I also listened to family members of another major provider who have been banned from visiting their family member, without any notice.
“That’s not in accordance with our Aged Care Standards.”
If staff are able to come and go to an aged care facility, visitors should be allowed and residents should be able to attend appointments if done sensibly, Mr Yates said.
“My staff took a call from a resident who alleges she has been punished for leaving an arbitrarily ‘locked down’ facility to attend a grandchild’s baptism and has been told she cannot attend a medical appointment with her doctor outside the facility unless she goes into isolation afterwards,” he said.
“If an aged care facility can manage the health and safety of its staff, who come and go daily and could potentially pose a significant health risk to residents, then there is no reason it can’t also safely manage family visitors with strict control measures,” Mr Yates said.
Mr Yates said lockdowns are a “lazy” response to the coronavirus and urged providers not to make decisions based on “convenience” or “profits”.
“So called ‘lockdowns’ are the opposite of a sensible and compassionate response and should only be a temporary emergency response to an internal or nearby community outbreak, while longer term measures are worked out,” he said.
“They should never be a long-term response.
“As a long term approach “lockdowns” are a lazy, alarmist and counter-productive reaction, the opposite of being compassionate and caring.
“Restrictions on aged care visits during this crisis must not be a result of panicked response, or driven by provider convenience, or by concerns about profits.
“They must emerge from ongoing consultation with, and listening to, residents and families within the framework of the Aged Care Standards, which emphasise on an equal footing consumer dignity and respect, the dignity of risk, best practice infection control, and consumer engagement and quality of life.”
The following people will not be permitted to visit aged care facilities:
All visitors need to be screened against these criteria.
All visitors should be required to sanitise their hands before entry, go only to their resident’s room and not access common areas.
All visits are to be kept brief.
Only two visitors with the resident at any time.
Mr Yates said he will continue to consult with the government and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on coronavirus and will advocate for a compassionate approach to visiting.
I am apart of the Wellbeing Team and we are providing iPads & staffing so that residents can FaceTime relatives. They can speak with relatives they normally don’t get to see Ie. family overseas & iPads are disinfected between use.
While I feel uncomfortable with not allowing visitors into facilities I also question whether people will be honest in responding to the government guidelines. There have been cases of people, that should be in quarantine, getting on flights, visiting people, shopping etc. All that is needed is one dishonest person and the flu or COVID-19 could enter a facility with significant negative consequences.
Poor Form Ian Yates…Very disappointing comments from Ian Yates, but then he has the luxury of playing the nice guy. Ian doesn’t have to get out of bed and go to work at 0700 or mid night to find staff have called in sick because of the virus hitting home. Going into lock down is the only sensible way to prevent the spread of this or any other significant virus throughout the sector. We do the same thing with a gastro outbreak. Mr Yates would be far better serviced supporting aged care providers and their staff at this time rather that scoring points with the public we are trying to protect. It is a shameful position for COTA to take. Every hour that passes we are advised of another provider going into lock down. They don’t make these decisions lightly and communicate with families and friends who are largely supportive of the decision. My own mother is in a facility that is in lock down, and we fully support the provider for doing so.
i work as a pca in a very good aged care facility and i am pleased our facility is in lockdown for us, management can monitor staff movement but not family, it is much better to be in lockdown now while our residents are still able to move freely around and staff need to be protected as well, we have our own families and children to go home to and we want t be able to continue looking after our residents