In federally regulated aged care facilities where it has been (barely) reported that PPE was denied to the workers. Basically a "how to guide" to increase transmission rates and subsequent deaths.
Again the health aspects of the care in Aged care facilities are the reponsibity of the States.Go and read the 2 Inquiries into Newmarch House in NSW.The response to Covid was led by the Nepean Health District Public Health Unit- ie the NSW Healh Department.Supply of PPE can come from either the State or commonwealth stockpiles.
And the then Deputy Victorian CHO said that victorian Health Authorities had learnt the lessons from the Newmarch outbreak in NSW and they were prepared to deal with cases in Aged Care Facilities.
"Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said much had been learnt from watching
the deadly outbreak at Newmarch House unfold.
"
In Victoria, we consider a single case in a nursing home an outbreak," Dr van Diemen said. "We decided quite early on we didn't want to wait for a second case."
Australian states outside of Victoria wait for at least two COVID-19 cases to emerge in aged care homes before declaring it an outbreak and rolling out contract tracing and strict quarantine measures."
Four Melbourne nursing homes remain in lockdown as authorities work to prevent a repeat of the deadly Newmarch House cluster in NSW.
www.theage.com.au
So now with 97% of cases and 97% of deaths in aged care facilities occurring in Victorian facilities once again it appears contact tracing and quarantine were found wanting.
This graph shows the number of confirmed active COVID-19 cases, deaths and recovered cases, in Australia and each state and territory, for people living in Australian Government–subsidised residential aged care facilities.
www.health.gov.au
It also highlights the absolute failure of using private enterprise. Totally unaccountable and able to walk away with the money and no repercussions.
It is excellent that this inquiry has started to focus on some of the important questions but I fear that it wont ask questions about FEDGOV or private enterprise failures.
The Royal Commission was set up to inquire into the running and regulation of Aged Care Facilities and then decided to include Covid response afterwards and interviewed known critics of Aged care.Undoubtedly there are major problems but this government plus the government from 2007-2013 both came up against a major problem when considering reform.Cost and where to make the cuts.The number of elderly people has skyrocketed and the working aged numbers have fallen as a percentage of the population.
When I was young we didn't get any subsidy for child care but Aged care Facilities were well run.Both those things have reversed since.
I note the articles quoted from the Lancet.They were not written by a Health Care worker.Sophie Cousins is a well known journalist contributing to the Guardian,New York times and the Atlantic.Maybe just a tad biased?
I wonder if Peta Credlin will ask those questions? Or, could she possible be biased and only want to hurl abuse at the VIC government? A real journalist would ask the hard questions of all applicable parties, not just those they want to denigrate?
My goodness she has extensively investigated the records of the Coates Inquiry from a legal perspective and you expect her to investigate Aged Care as well.The question should be why all those real Investigative journalists have not asked those questions before or since.
www.abc.net.au
A Peta Crudlin special investigation on the lowest rating news outlet in the whole country. Ooooooo. I just wonder what Murdoch’s, sorry Crudlins conclusion was. Couldn’t possibly hazard a guess...
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