The federal government has announced that an independent review has begun into COVID-19 outbreaks at Melbourne aged care homes, St Basil’s Home for the Aged and Heritage Care Epping Gardens.
According to a Federal Health Department fact sheet, St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Melbourne’s Fawkner has had 183 COVID-19 cases and 44 deaths. At Heritage Care Epping Garden, there were 187 cases and 36 deaths.
The reviews will examine the extent, impact, management and contributory causes of the COVID-19 outbreaks at these services.
A statement from the government said, “The purpose [of the reviews] is to derive lessons learned from these outbreaks, in order to inform management of potential future outbreaks and to support Australia’s aged care sector to manage similar situations now and into the future.”
Professor Lyn Gilbert and Adjunct Professor Alan Lilly will conduct the reviews, which will be conducted in September and October. The final reports are due in November 2020, and will be published shortly thereafter.
As part of the reviews, Professor Gilbert and Adjunct Professor Lilly will be speaking to a range of stakeholders, including residents and their representatives.
Professor Gilbert and Adjunct Professor Lilly have years of experience in aged care, health administration, infectious diseases and infection prevention and control, and clinical care.
They also reviewed the COVID-19 outbreak at Newmarch House in Sydney. You can read their report into Newmarch House here.
Read HelloCare’s article on the previous investigation: ‘Newmarch House: Will The Lessons Of History Be Learnt?’
Image: urbazon, iStock.
