Seven elderly Victorians died in aged care of COVID-19 on Sunday, which sparked claims of insufficient preparedness to deal with the pandemic, and insufficient levels of personal protective equipment (PPE) across aged care facilities.
The Department of Health (DOH) advised that facilities “should have sufficient levels (of PPE) on hand” given they are responsible to source supplies as part of their emergency management plan. As a result, the DOH did not conduct an official audit despite receiving 1346 stock requests by 8 May.
As aged care providers in Victoria are now facing shortages of PPE, Labor Shadow Minister for Ageing and Seniors, Julie Collins, issued a press release stating that this serious lapse in oversight is deeply concerning.
“The high number of requests for stock should have alerted the DOH that centres were unprepared” said Shadow Minister for Ageing and Senior, Julie Collins. “In the critical weeks leading up to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Victorian nursing homes, why didn’t the Morrison Government and the aged-care regulator do more to protect older Australian’s?”
The government has now set up an aged care response centre to deal with the COVID-19 surge in Victoria.
