The Victorian Aged Care Response Centre has released an update on how it’s working to protect senior Australians from COVID-19.
The Centre said it was continuing to align its resources and operations, with the cooperation of more than a dozen Federal and State agencies, in a robust effort to address the unfolding situation in aged care facilities.
“The Response Centre’s preventive and critical response efforts remain focused on continuity of care for aged care residents, the safety and wellbeing of staff and residents, and increasing communication with residents’ families,” the Centre said.
“Over 400 residents in aged care facilities have been transferred to hospitals, with the Aged Care Response Centre playing an active role in more than 300 of those cases,” it said.
“A team from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is on the ground making daily visits and delivering unannounced on-the-spot checks on appropriate PPE usage and infection control practices.”
The Centre said it had facilitated communications support for seven aged care facilities, with 859 outbound calls conducted to families of residents.
It said 71 facilities had been screened by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Western Health, bolstering infection control.
“Chief Executives of all major metro and regional hospitals and Aged Care Provider peak bodies have been contacted and briefed to ensure they have the support they need; and the Response Centre is working with Qantas, Virgin and Spotless to consider whether staff can be retrained to support aged care services,” it said.
The Centre said 30 staff from allied health services had been trained at Monash University as residential aged care safety officers, and 20 ADF staff were trained in PPE usage and compliance, set to be deployed to facilities this week.
