As we head into winter, COVID-19 numbers remain high. This ‘fifth wave’ is compounding staff shortages as staff call in sick, and last week caused the deaths of 56 residents, the second highest number of weekly deaths since January.
Once COVID gets into a facility, we are hearing that it is still spreading to other residents and staff quickly – extending lockdowns and exacerbating staff shortages.
Nearly 1,000 shifts were filled by surge workers in 41 aged care homes in the last week.
A spokesperson for private aged care provider Hall & Prior said, “COVID continues to impact on the viability of the aged care homes, with additional staffing, PPE and other IPC measures requiring funding.”
Family-owned Hall & Prior, which has homes in WA and NSW, still has claims on the costs of managing COVID outbreaks going back to 2022 that have not been reimbursed by the Government.
The Government is still dealing with a backlog of claims. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Aged Care told The SOURCE, applications for the COVID-19 Aged Care Support Program Extension were “higher than anticipated”, particularly after the emergence of the Omicron strain, with a total of 11,383 applications.
As of 30 May 2023, the Department had approved 5,322 applications valued at more than $432 million.
In the week to 1 June 2023, 2,743 aged care residents and 1,039 staff contracted COVID, and there were outbreaks in 476 homes.
