The son of an 81-year-old woman who died of COVID-19 at the nursing home suffering the state's worst aged care outbreak says it failed to protect his mother through poor infection controls.
Maria Vasilakis was one of five people linked to an aged care facility who died of COVID-19 overnight on Thursday, with the Morrison government calling a crisis meeting with the Victorian aged care sector to prevent further outbreaks.
Spiro Vasilakis' says St Basil’s contacted him last Friday to say his mother had COVID-19. On Sunday he was told she was dying.Credit:Paul Jeffers
At least 19 of Victoria's 56 deaths and at least 466 COVID-19 infections have been linked to aged care homes.
Ms Vasilakis' son, Spiro Vasilakis, said staff at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner were not wearing protective gloves or masks when he came to visit his mother in a segregated room after the facility went into lockdown in March.
"They were trying to protect residents from the outside world, but they should also have considered that staff were going to the outside world and coming back in," Mr Vasilakis said.
There are now 73 positive cases linked to St Basil’s, which was taken over by the federal government on Wednesday after at least 18 staff tested positive.
Meanwhile, the federal government’s aged care regulator has threatened to revoke the licence of two other Melbourne aged care homes linked to major COVID-19 outbreaks.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has issued Menarock Essendon Aged Care and Estia Health in Heidelberg with a Notice to Agree, citing a lack of compliance with a number of requirements under the eight quality standards.
On Friday, Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton warned of further deaths across the state. "I’m afraid we will see that and I expect that to occur. That is very tragic."
Victorian aged care services have raised concerns about "unacceptable delays" in personal protective equipment being delivered and a shortage of nursing home staff.
They are also pushing for all aged care residents who test positive to be transferred to hospital or another facility.
"Transfers are critical to reduce the risk for others in an aged care home," said Leading Age Services Australia acting chief advocate Tim Hicks.
Mr Vasilakis said St Basil’s contacted him on Friday to say his mother had COVID-19. On Sunday he was told she was dying.
He said when he visited his mother on Sunday, nurses from Northern Hospital told St Basil’s staff they were not adhering to protocols around contaminated protective equipment.
"They just had different levels of understanding of how serious the situation was," he said. "Maybe the staff were overwhelmed because most had already tested positive and were out of the place."
On Tuesday, St Basil’s manager Vicky Kos sent an email telling families there were 47 infected residents including 15 out of 18 from the dementia wing.
"We have been advised that the remainder of our staff who remain on site are also probably contaminated and need to isolate," Ms Kos wrote.
She said authorities had advised that staff must vacate their positions on Wednesday morning and isolate until they were cleared by further testing.
"We resisted that direction as much as we could but unfortunately Victorian public health experts, who are doctors, said this is a course we MUST follow."
St Basil’s did not respond to questions from The Age.
On Wednesday, staff were replaced by a Commonwealth team including experts from Aspen Medical - the health provider brought in to contain the COVID-19 cluster at Newmarch House in Sydney, which killed 19 residents.
Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said on Friday any residents requiring hospital care would be transferred and that addressing the concerns of families was a high priority.
However, some family members said they still felt left in the dark.
Sophia D’Alberto, whose 81-year-old mother Anna Barboussas has been diagnosed with COVID-19, said nobody was picking up the phone.
"We haven’t seen her, we don’t know what state she is in," Ms D’Alberto said. "It’s been an absolute nightmare. The lack of communication has just been unbelievable."
And Christine Golding, whose mother Efraxia is at the home, said she was asked what her issue was when she finally got through on the switch board on Friday. "I said I want to know if my mother is alive or dead. This is unbelievable."
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said the commission was closely monitoring the situation in Victoria.
"Since June 2020, 66 residential aged care services in Victoria have had at least one confirmed COVID-19 case (in a staff member or resident),” she said. "We are using the full range of our regulatory powers to ensure that providers meet their obligations with respect to the Aged Care Quality Standards, and implement all necessary steps to mitigate the risks of transmission of the virus consistent with the advice of health authorities."
The commission said that in order to avoid having its licence revoked, Estia Health in Heidelberg West, which is linked to 35 cases, must appoint an adviser and not admit new residents until it is cleared of COVID-19.
Estia Health said it had immediately implemented all additional requirements.
Menarock Essendon Aged Care, which is linked to 55 cases, must appoint an adviser and "not admit any new care recipients to the service until the serious risk to care recipient at the service has been effectively addressed".
Menarock Essendon Aged Care refused to comment.
Jewel Topsfield is Melbourne Editor of The Age.
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2020-07-24 13:45:00Z
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