It was a big week at the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The hearings, covered extensively in our newsletter The Daily Commission, sought to understand the impact of COVID-19 in aged care, while examining the Government and sector’s preparedness for the pandemic.
In his opening address, Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Rozen QC, described COVID-19 as the greatest challenge Australian aged care has ever faced.
“We all watched with horror the stories of large-scale death in what are called long term care homes in the Northern hemisphere in February and March of this year. The Australian aged care sector and the government agencies that fund and regulate it were on notice about the particular vulnerability of the elderly residents in our own care homes,” he said.
In many ways, the first two days of hearings were less about casting blame and more about discovering what lessons could be learnt and applied to future outbreaks.
Wednesday’s hearings were more heated. One expert blasted the Government’s response, and union representatives slammed providers over the treatment of aged care workers.
New Secretary of the Department of Health Professor Brendan Murphy however rejected the assertion that the Government was not prepared.
“Every death in aged care is a tragedy and no country in the world has avoided substantial outbreaks and, unfortunately and tragically, substantial deaths when they have had community transmission of the scale that we are currently seeing in Victoria. We reject categorically that the Australian Government failed to adequately plan and prepare,” he said.
The hearings continued on Thursday with the Senior Counsel Assisting maintaining his line in his closing address, while backing the idea of a national independent taskforce to tackle outbreaks.
He even suggested a “degree of self-congratulation and even hubris” was shown by the Commonwealth between April and mid-June when it seemed like the worst was past.
“Perhaps Commissioners that is the ultimate lesson. When it comes to the health and safety of our residents in nursing homes, we can’t afford to take any risks at all,” he concluded.
Based on the way things have gone in Victoria, it’s a hard statement to disagree with.
