Referring to the recent restrictions on visitors to aged care homes, complete lockdowns, and a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), she has asked readers to provide any information about their situation or reports they have heard – focusing on staffing levels, access to PPE and the impact on families.
For families:
“Have you been locked out of your loved one’s nursing home and how do you feel about that?”
“What role do you normally fulfil for your loved one – for example, feeding someone with dementia or providing physio or ensuring they are kept clean.”
“Do you think there are adequate levels of staffing? Do you have any other concerns?”
“Do you have a home care package and do you find home care workers are adequately prepared with protective equipment and using good infection control procedures?”
For staff:
“Have your staffing levels changed – are you getting more staff when your colleagues have to take sick leave; are agency staff coming in; are you getting extra shifts?”
“Do you have enough PPE or is it being restricted?”
“What is the effect on you now that families aren’t able to come in?”
Ms Connolly promises to continue the national broadcasters’ investigation into aged care throughout the crisis.
There must be a question however around the public’s current appetite for ‘bad news’ stories around aged care – and is Ms Connolly and the ABC crossing the line?
We say yes.
This week, we have already had both the Health Minister and the Aged Care Minister praise the efforts of aged care staff.
There will always be families and staff who are unhappy with the system, but in a time when every headline is ‘bad news’, is this what families of aged care residents and home care clients deserve?
Is this what the aged care workforce of Australia deserves?
