The Allambie Heights Village Ltd. CEO has backed Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Rozen QC’s assessment that the Federal Government had left operators under-prepared for the pandemic, saying he receives conflicting advice on a daily basis from a range of agencies.
The CEO criticised the “hundreds of thousands of bureaucratic public servants sitting at home punching out directives and threats on their laptops to RACF Operators/Approved Providers, our managers and staff about what we should be doing and what will happen to us if we don’t do something in an ‘air of bullying’ and quite frankly unsupportive, unhelpful and often unclear or contradictory messages”, noting that he currently receives daily emails regarding COVID-19 from:
- The Commonwealth Department of Health;
- NSW Health;
- The Prime Minister;
- The Federal Minister of Health;
- The Federal Minister of Ageing and Sport;
- The Medical Advisor to the Federal Government;
- The NSW Premier;
- The NSW Minister of Health and Medical Research;
- The Medical Advisor to the NSW Premier;
- The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC);
- The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission;
- The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety;
- NSW Public Health Unit (PHU);
- Northern Sydney Local Health District;
- And thankfully to the Peak Industry Body, Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), of which our Company is a Member;
- And perhaps a few more bodies which I have reasonably forgotten at time of writing.
“Maybe now, the Federal Government will listen and address our Aged Care Industry Workforce issues, provide the injection of money required to our Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) and Home Care, the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as well as the clarity of leadership regarding COVID-19 that has been sadly missing across Australia for weeks now,” he added.
