Aged care news highlights from the week ending 11 February 2022, aggregated by CompliSpace.

The information in the Weekly Wrap is aggregated from other news sources to provide you with news that is relevant to the aged care sector across Australia and worldwide. Each paragraph is a summary of the subject matter covered in the particular news article. The information does not necessarily reflect the views of CompliSpace.

Coronavirus/COVID-19 News

The Australian Defence Force to work with the aged care sector to provide immediate support for staff

According to the Department of Health, the Australian Government has announced that it will deploy up to 1,700 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to support staff in the aged care sector. The ADF will provide immediate support, coordinated in partnership with the Australian Government Department of Health (the Department). It is intended to assist stabilise outbreaks and support staff shortages in residential aged care facilities.

ADF personnel will undertake induction training with healthcare provider Aspen Medical and will deploy four Clinical Support Teams this week. These teams will comprise nurses and general support staff and complement the current Aspen Medical Standing Teams. A further 6 teams are being readied for deployment from next week.

The Australian Defence Force teams will supplement existing Commonwealth workforce surge measures to ensure more support is available to facilities experiencing outbreaks.

Additional support teams to support providers and staff

The ADF cannot replace skilled aged care workers, however they will assist across facilities including logistics and general duties tasks. This may include screening of entrants to facilities, providing companionship to residents, supporting with meals and other non-direct care functions to take the pressure off qualified aged care workers and medical staff.

Additional support teams to undertake these general support roles are being established. Up to 50 personnel to be available in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia from 9 February 2022. The ADF is ready to expand this commitment to up to 200 personnel in each state and territory, or up to 1,700 personnel if required. The deployment of ADF personnel to individual facilities will be determined with the Department as part of existing case management and workforce support for RACFs experiencing outbreaks.

Related articles

Prime Minister’s Media Release: Defence Surges to Support Aged Care Sector

Australian Ageing Agenda: ADF deployed to aged care sector

Hospital and Healthcare: Up to 1700 ADF personnel to be deployed to aged care

ADF ‘‘flying squads’’ to support QLD and VIC aged care homes first

According to The Weekly Source, the first teams of Australian Defence Force members, comprising nurses and general support staff, will support healthcare provider Aspen Medical in providing relief to aged care homes in Queensland and Victoria.

Aged Care Situation Report highlights sector challenges

According to Hospital and Healthcare, a Situation Report on the aged-care sector by the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC) paints a grim picture of the stresses faced by aged-care providers and their staff during the Omicron surge.

'We need help': aged care chief's plea as industry descends into chaos

According to The Senior, as the Omicron wave ravages nursing homes throughout Australia, a peak aged care body has issued an desperate SOS. "It is absolutely a crisis out there," Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Paul Sadler told ABC News Breakfast on Thursday.

New task force slammed

According to Australian Ageing Agenda, a dearth of data behind the COVID deaths in Australia’s aged care sector has prompted the Government to form a new task force to scrutinise the causes of the fatalities. The task force was immediately slammed by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese who said – given the disproportionate toll the coronavirus is having on older Australians – an investigation should have already been underway.

Update on residential aged care booster rollout

According to the Department of Health, Commonwealth booster clinics for residents and workers eligible for their booster dose have now been completed in residential aged care facilities across Australia. While the majority of residents were eligible to receive their booster dose, not all residents were able to a booster dose on the day of the in-reach clinic, consent was not completed in some cases and some residents were not eligible at the time.

See here for the Department’s advice on:

• arranging booster shots for remaining eligible residents
• applying for permission to vaccinate your own residents, workers and family members
• requesting a return booster clinic to deliver boosters to your residents and workers
• mandatory reporting of booster vaccination rates, and the Department’s plans to publish this data
• how your workforce can access a priority booster dose.

ADDENDUM to Request for Tender: For residential aged care facilities to vaccinate staff and residents

According to the Department of Health, an addendum has been issued today for the Request for Tender inviting residential aged care facilities to self-vaccinate their staff and residents (RFT Health/22-301174). RFT Health/22-301174, which opened yesterday, enables residential aged care facilities to submit proposals to vaccinate their staff, residents and family members. The addendum reflects the change that each facility can apply to administer COVID-19 vaccines at other residential aged care facilities as well as their own sites.

Additional Dedicated Worker Vaccination Hubs – Book now

According to the Department of Health, dedicated Commonwealth worker vaccination hubs are now available in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria for all aged care workers. The department will provide advice on additional hubs as they come online. All aged care workers can get a priority booster appointment at the below sites through the links provided. Dedicated worker vaccination hubs are available for a limited time so aged care workers should book without delay.

Other News

New aged care regulatory framework concept paper released

According to Australian Senior News, the Department of Health has today released a concept paper for a new regulatory framework as part of an overhaul of Australia’s embattled aged care system. In a statement, the Department said the concept paper outlines early thinking in the development of a new regulatory framework. “This new framework will inform a new Aged Care act and support aged care reforms such as the new Support at Home Program,” it said in a statement. It said the release of the concept paper was the first step in the public consultation process to design the new framework with stakeholders.

Aged care regulator scales back compliance checks and on-site visits of homes

According to Hellocare, the nation’s aged care regulator has scaled back site visits and compliance checks, even as COVID-19 cases in aged care surge so strongly, the Defence Force has been called in to assist. Data provided by the Department of Health shows that in January, only 128 site visits and 87 ‘non-site activities’ – which include measures such as phone compliance checks – were conducted across the nation’s almost 2,700 aged care homes.

Regulatory activities to protect aged care consumers during the pandemic – Statement from Ms Janet Anderson PSM, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner

According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Commission has further refined regulatory processes and is closely monitoring providers to hold them to account for the delivery of safe, quality care to aged care consumers during the current Omicron wave. Key features of our approach to maintaining a strong regulatory response specifically in the context of COVID-19 include:

• undertaking more infection prevention and control monitoring spot checks at individual aged care services where there is an increased risk of a COVID-19 outbreak
• continuing to conduct site visits to residential services to support and ensure provider outbreak readiness
• resolving complaints, and engaging more closely with services where concerns have been raised about the impact of COVID-19 on care
• proactively contacting providers to ensure they have an outbreak management plan that is continually reviewed and updated
• continuing to assess and investigate serious incident notifications related to COVID-19
• holding providers to account by taking compliance and enforcement action wherever necessary
• using intelligence from spot checks, complaints, incidents and other sources to understand risks associated with COVID-19 and effectively target regulatory activities
• developing and promoting best practice outbreak management resources to the sector.

Information for providers using Services Australia’s Aged Care Online

According to the Department of Health, residential aged care providers using Services Australia’s Aged Care Online must upgrade to web services before 13 March 2022. To upgrade, you need:

• web services compatible Business to Government (B2G) software
• a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) Organisation account for authentication
• a completedAC027 form to set up your device for Aged Care web services

If you don’t upgrade to web services before 13 March 2022, you may need to revert to either the Aged Care Provider Portal or a manual process. Contact your software developer now to discuss their transition plans for your site. For more information, visit the Services Australia website.

Janet Anderson to head quality regulator for three more years

According to Australian Ageing Agenda, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson has been reappointed for three more years, with aged care services minister Richard Colbeck praising her “extraordinary leadership” during COVID-19.

Fewer young people in aged care homes – report

According to Community Care Review, there’s been a 20 per cent drop in the number of young Australians living in residential aged care, a new government report shows.

Legislation

Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021 [CTH] – passed House and introduced to Senate 10 February 2022

On 13 December 2018, the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General released the Report of the Religious Freedom Review. The Review made several recommendations and concluded that there is an opportunity to further protect and better promote freedom of religion under Australian law and in the community.

In its response, the Australian Government committed to a range of measures to implement the Review's recommendations. These form the basis of the legislative package the government will introduce into Parliament. The Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021 will make consequential amendments necessary to implement the Religious Discrimination Bill.