In a press conference this afternoon, the prime minister said the federal government will intervene if aged care providers continue to impose visitor bans.
Prime minister Scott Morrison said if providers can not follow the government’s guidelines, they will be required to seek the government’s permission to impose lockdowns.
The Minister for Aged Care, Hon Richard Colbeck and Chief Medical Officer, Brendon Murphy will meet via video call with the peak bodies and aged care providers this evening to discuss the issue, which is emerging as a major point of difference between the government and aged care providers.
“National cabinet has continued to stress its concern about restrictions that are being put in place in aged care facilities,” Mr Morrison said.
“So, we are flagging that should we not see an improvement in this area… that the commonwealth would be moving to require aged care facilities that wish to have an exemption to those national principles… then they would need to seek authority to do that from the commonwealth,” he said.
Mr Morrison said there are “valid reasons” to impose lockdowns, citing the examples of north-west Tasmania and western Sydney. Lockdowns in scenarios such as these are “entirely sensible” and “totally reasonable”, he said.
But in most cases, these strong restrictions are not necessary, Mr Morrison stated.
“Having people stuck in their rooms, not being able to be visited by their loved ones and carers and other support people, that’s not OK,” he said, echoing his comments earlier in the week.
“We are not going to have these as secret places, where people can’t access them,” he said.
This afternoon the aged care minister Richard Colbeck issued a statement reiterating the prime minister’s position.
“Total lock downs of facilities… (are) not supported by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee or the National Cabinet,” he said.
“Contact with family and friends during this difficult time can be a vital link to ensure the health and wellbeing of Senior Australians in care,” Mr Colbeck said.
“The AHPPC is concerned that in some cases this level of contact is not being maintained. It is not okay that residents should remain completely cut off from loved ones or their carers. This is particularly important for those residents with dementia.”
The government’s current guidelines for visitors to aged care facilities during COVID-19 are as follows.
“This guidance draws on what has already been learned from experiences with recent COVID-19 outbreaks,” Mr Colbeck said.
Do not visit aged care facilities if you have:
From 1 May 2020, anyone who visits an aged care facility must have had a flu vaccination.
Visits must be kept short and no more than two visitors, including doctors, are allowed at a time. Visits can occur in a resident’s room, outdoors, or in a specific area they designate. There should be no visiting in communal areas.
There should be no large group visits or gatherings, no school groups, and no children aged 16 years or under are permitted to visit residential aged care facilities except in special circumstances.
“If you cannot visit your family and friends in a residential aged care facility, it’s important to keep in touch. Make phone or video calls, send postcards, photos or artwork or film short videos to share,” the guidelines state.
According to a fact sheet for families and carers, aged care providers should manage cases “compassionately, especially when it relates to end-of-life situations, palliative care and dementia units”.
I have my husband in a Nursing Home with dementia. He has been in lockdown for 6 weeks. I respect the decision of the Nursing Home to participate in the lockdown. I used to see 5 to 7 days before the lockdown. I speak to him on the phone an have FaceTime him a few times. I do find the phone calls etc very hard as he is hard to follow. I feel quite sad after the phone calls. In support of the Nursing Home I have found the staff so friendly an helpful an Im confident with their looking after him.
Here are the revised restrictions in South Australia.
https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/158459/FAQ-Emergency-Management-Residential-Aged-Care-Facilities-No-3-COVID-19-Direction.pdf
I work in age care, we in lockdown, the residents are not lock in there rooms, people do not know just how hard it can be if we have a outback it spread like wild fire, we and other nursing home have outback before influenzas, gastro, we are doing very thing we can to keep them safe and happy, temperature take before we start work, residents take twice a day and we all had are flu jab it law we can not work with out, if we let visit in how know what will happen, it a hard time for all.so please be understand what happening they getting the best off care
We have a family member that insists on seeing his/her loved one and brings a carer and another family member with him/her. He/her expects the only 2 staffers on this Dementia ward to walk their loved one. As DTs aren’t there at the moment and Physios are not working as much this is unacceptable. We understand the families’s distress but please give us a break as our workload has actually extended to dishing out meals as well due to kitchen staff not being allowed into the wards. On top of this we are feeding, changing incontinent residents supervising wanders and behaviours and have very little time for our breaks! Some staff are saying they are missing their breaks altogether. We have to give out laundry and towels ourselves as laundry are not allowed on the floors as well. Same old issue isn’t it? The poor AINs on measly wages get stuck with more work!! Amazing how some people who have been put off temporarily still get a fair wage for sitting at home while we the lowkey wage earners in all of this get nothing more than more and more workloads added to the list.
The discrepancies seem to be between what the Federal Government is saying , as the major funder of aged care, and what individual State Government Health Departments are issuing as regulations.
Can someone please tell me what advantage the government believes is gained by nursing homes locking down the facility?
Absolutely none, volunteers and family members come in every day to help with meals and activities, they supply colour and interest so why in hells name would anyone believe we want a lockdown!
The Prime Minister is a disgrace, he obviously doesn’t appreciate the good news stories that have been about the last few weeks. After his speech last week where he said that he would force the doors open he, in the very next sentence said… we are looking at lightening social distancing, there will most likely be a spike and inevitably, deaths!
Aren’t the vulnerable aged population dying quickly enough for you Scott?
You have dragged your feet with ANY sort of “assistance” during the pandemic, too little and too late!
Scott Morrison has attacked residential care for over five years. The surplus is long gone.
Fix the funding.
I have been very sad at not being able to see my dear husband for a number of weeks . I have felt so much grief with this lockdown. I have even thought about having him home as he is so unhappy. I do think the Carers do a great job. At a couple of times i have been angry when i have phoned to speak to my husband and had the phone shut off without even speaking to him.
We totally respect the lockdown for the safety and care of the residents. We have not been able to communicate with our mother very well due to advanced dementia however the home has been so accommodating in allowing us to see her through a love window. Praise for our aged care homes and their workers and for observing social distancing rules.
Is Scotty from Marketing going to pitch in & help with personal cares when an outbreak occurs because restrictions have been lifted prematurely? Will he be coming into the home, donning a mask, gown, gloves & eye protection to deliver meals to residents with COVID-19? Will he be personally calling the relatives of residents who die to break the news to them? I very much doubt he will offer anything more than his usual “thoughts & prayers”, which, I’m sorry to say, mean sweet f**k all.
Aged care homes are trying to protect their residents, there is nothing sneaky going on. Limited visitors are manageable, if two to each resident were allowed that would equate to hundreds being in the building at once. That doesn’t seem helpful at the moment. Controlled visitors seems a better idea. let the aged care homes( who have dealt with many outbreaks) deal with it . They know better about dementia and infection than the Prime Minister. I think he meant, ” thanks for all you do” really.
If it is unacceptable (and rightly so) to put my 87 yr old father in isolation , by himself, in his own home and for his own safety not have any of his 60 something yr old children visit him. Why would it be a necessity for the 60-70 yr old somethings to visit their 80-100 yr old somethings in a communal environment of very frail ,vulnerable mostly sick already , people in a high care residential facility of 78 people. Surely its safer not to do the later for everyone’s sake. If keeping my father isolated at home respects his right to be protected then we should respect all 78 peoples rights to be protected in the facility. They have people caring for them and touching them every day, they have human contact and company, my father does not. Who’s needs are we addressing here, the residents or the family when we open it to 2 visitors per person, approx 160 extra people per day? Reflect objectively on this and tell me, if you were responsible for the safety of residents and staff, what would your decision be?
This is a very emotional issue. I represent a small, not-for-profit Provider who chose not to lock down but has still implemented all of the restrictions required by both Federal and State Governments. 80 COVID-19 tests, no cases. (like almost every provider in the country)
We chose to do so because we have all staff and management on site, know all of our people, and weighed the risks of not locking down against the risks of locking down. (Mental Wellbeing for example)
We have “visiting hours” restrictions, and monitor all visitors to ensure they comply with the requirements. This has been widely supported by our community, but there have also been family members who chose to stay away.
This is proving to be a very divisive issue, as it appears the Govt and our Peak body disagree, and small fish like us appear to be not supported in our decision to allow visits by our own peak!
Like everything else in our industry, there is no “one size fits all” approach. If those providers who locked down had the support of their residents and families, then they made the correct decision and should not be criticized for it. Skeptics may argue that some others though locked down for convenience so they didn’t have to deal with families, but that is a whole other argument…..
Whatever your thoughts, the facts are that apart from the unfortunate and heartbreaking cases in NSW and Tas, The Residential Aged Care Community in Australia has been brilliant in its response and management, and this should be held up against the rest of the world as an example.
Hello Stefan,
Would you be willing to provide your opinions (anonymously if you wish) with us for an upcoming article on the same subject? If so, please email me at jakob@hellocaremail.com.au