Aged Care and Senior Australians Minister, Senator Richard Colbeck, has promised residents will soon be able to hug and touch family members and friends in aged care facilities as part of a plan to allow visitors back as soon as possible.
Currently, there are restrictions on visits to aged care homes in most States and Territories:
- In the ACT, there are no visitors permitted into aged care or other residential facility settings, except for end of life or other compassionate reasons, as approved by the facility.
- In NSW and Victoria, two visitors per day are only allowed in residential aged care facilities for areas not currently under stay at home orders, provided they have not been to any stay at home area in the last 14 days – so visitors are not permitted in greater Sydney, Melbourne and other regions under lockdown.
- In South Australia, there is no limit of care and support visits per day if over 70 per cent of residents have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, a resident of a home with less than 70 per cent of residents vaccinated, may have only one care and support visit of two persons or two separate visits from one person, per day.
- In Tasmania, visitors must be screened for COVID-19 before entering the home.
- Queensland and Western Australia are the only States where residents are free to go.
All restrictions could soon be at an end, said Minister Colbeck.
“We can’t have them locked up forever. It’s just not acceptable,” Mr Colbeck told Nine News.
“There will be circumstances, as they always have been, when access is restricted … but we’re dealing with something new, and we need to design the processes to deal with it,” he said.
Senator Colbeck said he wants a firm plan for returning visitors to all aged care facilities “absolutely as soon as possible”, and wants it to occur in line with the opening up of the community as the country moves to the next phases of the recovery plan once 70 and 80 per cent of the eligible population aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated.
“Quite simply we want to be able to normalise contact as much as possible. Hugs are in, especially if Nan is vaccinated,” he said.
Vaccination rates among residents are high, with 90 per cent vaccinated. In aged care homes, 98.9 per cent of workers nationwide have now had at least one vaccination and 81.6 per cent are fully vaccinated, as of Wednesday. Across the country, 49.3 per cent of the eligible population is fully immunised.
Senator Colbeck said he expects there will be personal protective equipment requirements including mask wearing for those wanting to enter facilities, and rapid antigen testing could also be part of a pre-screening process for visitors regardless of vaccination rates in the community.
Great news for those of us with loved ones living in residential care who have been unable to visit in these recent months.
