The Director of the Australian Health Services Research Institute at the University of Wollongong has warned that aged care homes need to provide more medical staff and accountability for the health of residents at the board and executive level to head off future outbreaks.
Professor Eagar – who penned the Royal Commission’s first research paper into staffing levels in Australian aged care facilities and how they compare to other countries which argued strongly for minimum staffing levels in October last year – has told the Sydney Morning Herald that clinical standards and the management of health risks was lacking in many homes.
“There has been no requirement for aged care executives to have any clinical expertise or for an aged care organisation to employ an executive level health professional who is held accountable for clinical quality and safety,” she said.
“While some homes do manage clinical risks very well, others don’t. The system is too patchy.”
Professor Eagar said the coronavirus outbreaks on cruise ships had highlighted the need to close and deep clean facilities – and that it should not be up to residents to decide whether they stay or go during an outbreak.
“If we had an outbreak in a boarding school or hospital, there is no way they would have left it to individuals to decide whether they wanted to stay. They would have said we have to close this place down, isolate and test everyone – both staff and residents – and deep-clean it,” she said.
Our understanding from the Department of Health is that the health authorities are responsible for deciding whether COVID positive residents are better off being treated in the home or in hospital – but the CEOs and boards of aged care homes are ultimately accountable.
The Royal Commission had already flagged the experience and makeup of boards as an issue during its hearings on governance last year.
With governance still on the Commission’s list of topics to be addressed at future hearings, this will be a subject on which we will hear more.
