The revelation comes as new data released exclusively to The Age shows the full extent of COVID-19 fatalities in nursing homes
One of the nation’s top experts on aged care said the commission too often worked with homes rather than as a true watchdog.
Epping Gardens, St Basil’s and Estia Health Ardeer collectively had 583 coronavirus infections, and yet all three homes received perfect compliance ratings in audits completed by the regulator in 2018 and 2019. Despite full marks from the regulator for most homes, coronavirus has exposed holes in those infection controls.
Ms Anderson said her agency held aged care providers to account for the quality and safety they provided to older people. She said that during the pandemic it had been using "the full range of our regulatory powers to ensure that providers meet their obligations … [and] mitigate the risks of transmission of the virus".
Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck announced last week that as part of a $563 million aged care funding extension, residential providers would have to employ "a designated infection control officer on site" to continue receiving extra COVID-19 payments."That should have been happening a long, long, long time ago – it’s what Hong Kong had been doing since SARS," he said.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Mystery COVID-19 cases in northern and western SydneyNSW Health authorities are closing in on the source of the CBD cluster, which has grown to 64 cases.
Read more »
NSW's green economic recovery from COVID-19Environment Minister Matt Kean is calling for a green-led recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
Read more »
Why NSW is winning its COVID-19 fightNew South Wales’ response to the pandemic has been praised as the “gold standard” for Australia, with the Prime Minister saying its contact tracing abilities, lessened restrictions and open borders is something all other states and territories should aspire to.
Read more »
Vaccine 'not a magic solution' for COVID-19 in IndonesiaIndonesian epidemiologists have warned the national government is too focused on pursuing a vaccine to defeat COVID-19 and is neglecting the public health system
Read more »
'Heartbreak and resilience': Challenges of a migrant doctor during the COVID-19 pandemicThe coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the often hidden problems faced by first generation migrants.
Read more »
Is your runny nose more likely to be hay fever or COVID-19?Both hay fever and COVID-19 have respiratory symptoms. So how best can you tell these two conditions apart?
Read more »