A result that the sector should be congratulated on.
Health Minister Greg Hunt announced during Monday’s Question Time that there are no cases remaining active in any aged care home in Australia.
“In what has been the most intense period, our health system has performed extraordinarily well,” he said.
“It has been, I think, by all assessments the envy of the world in the way it has dealt with the coronavirus challenge, the way that the primary healthcare system has stood up and our doctors and our nurses, supported by telehealth, have dealt with coronavirus and the way that that system through our aged-care network has stood up,” he said.
“At the moment the latest advice I have is that there are two Australians with COVID-19 on ventilation. What an outstanding job!”
Check out the graph above.
As you can see, of the 68 confirmed COVID-19 cases in residential care, 39 residents have now recovered while 29 have passed away.
In home care, 28 of the confirmed cases have also recovered while three home care recipients have died.
Mr Hunt lauded the sector – and the Government – for its work in protecting Australia’s elderly.
“What it says is that we have been able to successfully build that system, and we’ve done it by investing in the needs of our aged-care workers,” he stated.
Minister Hunt maintained that the $850 million in stimulus funding provided to the sector – including the workforce retention bonus – has helped to support the viability of aged care homes by offering certainty of wages for workers, who were most at risk of leaving work or facing the risk of contracting coronavirus.
“We’ve been able to support them,” he said. “We’ve been able to keep going, and all of these things have meant our workers have been safe, our residents have been safe and the system has been viable. That is one of Australia’s great achievements during the course of the pandemic.”
The question is however: once the stimulus funding is exhausted, will the Government take action to ensure the future viability of the sector?
See this story.
