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The Australian Department of Health reports that new COVID infections rose by more than 3,000 cases in nursing homes this past last week.
This current COVID surge in aged care facilities is around 8 times higher than the previous COVID wave and the aged and the vulnerable are getting exposed to COVID, they are getting sick or dying. You would have thought that our health gurus would have reminded themselves of what went wrong in 2020 and 2021!
How could this happen after the debacle at the beginning of COVID in aged care? Our Governments keep claiming they have plans for everything but clearly they have no idea how to respond to this problem.
What happened to “protect the aged and the vulnerable?”
Australia has been through years of COVID flip-flopping and now we find we are subjected to more of the same. We have a shiny new Minister for Health and Aged Care who is giving us more of the same. The Government is leaving Australian seniors and the vulnerable in harm’s way.
The Department of Health and the aged care industry do not seem to have learned a thing through the earlier phases of COVID. Aged Australians are not safe.
Would this have happened if nurses were in charge? Nurses care. Nurses are the core of our healthcare system. Nurses are trained in infection control.
Earlier this year the Albanese Government blocked an amendment to introduce registered nurses into aged care facilities 24/7. They said “No.” They want to do their own amendment in June 2023, and in the meantime the aged and vulnerable are being unnecessarily exposed to COVID.
Australians deserve safe, high-quality healthcare. Our aged care facilities and nursing homes need competent, capable, nurse-led hospital management, and these facilities should have locally elected independent Boards. Boards that are informed by health professionals and free to focus on local health needs and solutions, enabled by a realistic budget to deliver the care Australian seniors need where they live.
Australians need nurses 24/7 in aged care and nursing homes.