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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.