Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced aged care providers will receive another $205 million in funding to deal with additional costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic after the National Cabinet signed off on a new industry Code of Conduct to allow family members to visit aged care homes.
You can read the draft code here.
In the post-Cabinet meeting press conference on Friday afternoon, Mr Morrison said the Code “reflects absolutely” the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC)’s advice to the National Cabinet that limits visits to two people per resident per day in the resident’s room.
The PM said the Code – which was signed off by the seven major peaks and aged care organisations plus consumer advocacy groups on Thursday night – sets out rules and rights for people visiting their family members at the end of their life, as well as those who are used to receiving regular visitors such as people with dementia.
Mr Morrison also announced a one-off payment of $900 per occupied bed for operators in metropolitan areas, with those in regional areas set to receive $1,350 – a 50% uplift to reflect their higher costs.
The PM said this payment would go towards supporting additional costs that operators are incurring and assist them with the costs of implementing the code including the screening of visitors.
Aged Care Minister Senator Richard Colbeck outlined some of these extra costs, including visitor screening, PPE and administrative workload.
“This measure is in recognition of those additional costs,” he said.
The new payment brings to the total funding provided to the sector to deal with the pandemic to over $850 million – a figure Minister Colbeck touted as a “significant amount of money” during the press conference.
$850 million is a “significant” amount – but it is only half of what the sector had been hoping for.
The same seven groups that signed off on the code had been calling for a $1.5 billion rescue package to keep the sector viable over the next six months – running full-page newspaper ads to call for funding as late as Thursday, stating the sector is ‘desperate’!
This new payment will likely only cover part of the costs of implementing the new Code.
Providers have told us that they will essentially need to employ a ‘concierge’ to check temperatures and flu vaccinations (mandatory for visiting facilities from yesterday) and show visitors to visiting areas.
That equates to a full-time role in larger homes, while smaller operators may not have the staff available to ‘man’ the doors throughout a shift.
If a home has 75 residents and half get a visitor twice a week, that is still 75 visits that need to be managed at say 30 minutes each – or 33 hours.
This is every week – for a payment of $900.
With 56% of operators in the red, how many are now one step closer to calling it a day?
