Month: March 2020

Published by: Anita Courtney, Solomon Miller, Dr Melanie Tan

Since the commencement of the new restraint provisions in July last year, there has been an increased focus on the issue of restraints.

A particularly vexing issue for the industry is what to do about keypads on the entrances and exits to/from aged care facilities, or areas within them (eg. secure dementia units).

With most of the industry using coded keypads to enter and exit, we are receiving a number of questions on this issue.

1. The keypad is there for everyone’s safety so it’s not a restraint right?
2. Is a keypad exit always a restraint?
3. Do I need consent from everyone in the facility?
4. What do I need to do if I have residents who can’t leave because of the keypad?

Read more:

Keypads in aged care homes and the rules on restraints: FAQs

Latest links to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information from the Department of Health.

Read more:

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for workers in residential aged care facilities (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for families and residents on restricted visits to residential aged care facilities (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for older Australians (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice for retirement villages (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice for public gatherings and visits to vulnerable groups
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidelines for outbreaks in residential care facilities (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) – frequently asked questions (.pdf)
• Information for health care and residential care workers Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for residents of residential care services, family members and visitors (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) – what you need to know (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) isolation guidance (.pdf)
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Information on social distancing (.pdf)
• Resources for health professionals, including pathology providers and healthcare managers

Our main office in Melbourne is now closed, and all our staff are working remotely (where possible).

The Manad Plus Help Desk is still open and running; however all support channels in the short-term are now ’email only’ via support@manad.com.au.

IMPORTANT: Our landline phone of 1300 62 62 32 will no longer be monitored so please inform your staff of this. We are in the process of getting a voicemail recording updated to notify you of this if you forget and do call. Our existing email support ticket system will continue to operate as usual as this can be accessed remotely by our support team.

We encourage all our clients to send all emails to support@manad.com.au, clearly outline what your request/issue/question(s) etc. is and include your email signature in ‘all’ replies, so we have quick and easy access to your key contact numbers.

We will then triage your email to the correct person in our team to assist and best support you in these difficult times. If we require further details, then we may request this via email or we will give you a call and may use TeamViewer so we can connect live to your PC and step through what you want to do as we currently do now.

Please note there may be some teething issues as we get all the ‘tech’ right for each staff member, but we hope this will be as seamless for you as possible. We appreciate our clients (and all aged care organisations) are under an immense amount of pressure and stress, and we are here to help and make your life as easy as possible. If we can be of any assistance or you are unsure how to use any features within Manad Plus, then please reach out for help.

NOTE:

To ensure our Help Desk team can best support your staff when they are contacting us, please remember when emailing it makes it much easier to reply quickly and accurately when a screenshot is attached. This allows us to see where you are within Manad Plus and better understand what you are viewing.

If you are unsure how you can take a screenshot of what is on your screen, then you can generally do this via the PrtScn (Print Screen) key on your keyboard and then paste this into your email. There are also a variety of tools for screen captures where you can also add mark-ups, such as the ‘Snipping Tool’ built into most Windows PCs or the newer ‘Snip & Sketch’ application.

You may need to speak to your IT Administrator if you are unable to use these tools or if they are not installed.

See: Snip & Sketch

The Department has provided Information on the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

A number of questions have been answered, covering:

• Do staff need to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when providing aged care services to a suspected COVID-19 case who is awaiting test results?
• What is close contact?
• Do staff need to wear PPE when providing aged care services to a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case (and the close contact is in quarantine for 14 days)?
• Do staff need to wear PPE when providing aged care services when there is a confirmed COVID-19 case in the facility they work in but they have not had any contact with this case?

Read more:

FAQ on Personal Protective Equipment

Interim advice on non-inpatient care of persons with suspected or confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), including use of personal protective equipment (PPE) (.pdf)

Grant opportunities for the Business Improvement Fund for residential aged care are now open.

Providers can apply for grant assistance to improve business operations, or support sale of facility to another provider, or closure where no other options are available.

The Business Improvement Fund is designed to support small to medium sized providers:

• with limited access to other financial support
• facing significant financial pressures which may impact on care to residents or risk service closure.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted via GrantConnect by 2:00pm AEST on 15 May 2020.

Read more:

Applications now open: Business Improvement Fund for residential aged care

GrantConnect – Current Grant Opportunity View – GO3410

Three new eLearning modules developed specifically for Aged Care workers are now online.

These modules are:

• Module 2: Families and Visitors
o Part A: Residential Care Facilities
o Part B: In Home Care
• Module 3: COVID-19 and Aged Care
• Module 4: Outbreak Management Procedures

On completion of these modules, participants will be able to:

• Identify when families or visitors should be visiting a client
• Implement precautions for all visitors entering the facility or the client’s home
• Demonstrate basic environmental cleaning procedures when caring for a person with COVID-19
• Demonstrate the appropriate infection prevention control measures for a COVID-19 outbreak.

Read more:

Three new eLearning modules Live

Modules can be accessed here

The federal government has launched an app and WhatsApp message service to provide Australians with information and advice about the fast changing coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed the digital offerings on Sunday, two weeks after the government first committed $2.4 million towards building an app.

Canberra-based tech firm Delv has spent the last two weeks building the app, while Atlassian and Facebook have developed the WhatsApp message service. Send the following to +61 400 253 787 on WhatsApp.

Morrison said the app, which is available on both iOS and Android devices, was “a trusted place of advice and information” for citizens about COVID-19.

Read more:

Australia launches COVID-19 app, WhatsApp chat

Coronavirus Australia app

Google Play Store – Coronavirus Australia

Apple App Store – Coronavirus Australia

WhatsApp message service – Send the following to +61 400 253 787 on WhatsApp

To provide continued access to essential primary health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian Government is expanding Medicare-subsidised telehealth services for all Australians and providing extra incentives to general practitioners and other health practitioners.

These critical changes have been designed in partnership with key stakeholders in the sector including the Australian Medical Association, Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Allied Health Professionals Australia, Australian Psychological Society, and the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association.

We are making telehealth a key weapon in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding the consultation services available by telehealth is the next critical stage in the Government’s response to COVID-19.

Services will include GP services and some consultation services provided by other medical specialists, nurse practitioners, mental health treatment, chronic disease management, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments, services to people with eating disorders, pregnancy support counselling, services to patients in aged care facilities, children with autism, and after-hours consultations.

Read more:

COVID-19: Whole of population telehealth for patients, general practice, primary care and other medical services

In this issue:

• New eLearning modules now live
• Changes to telehealth Aged Care assessments

Read more:

28 March 2020 – Protecting Older Australians: COVID-19 Update

In this issue:

• One day left to stop using AUSkey to log into the My Aged Care portal
• Update: The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
• PRODA outage 29 March 2020

Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP):

• CHSP financial acquittals
• Social and Community Services funding supplementation
• CHSP extension and indexation

Read more:

Information for the Aged Care Sector – Issue 2020/06 (.pdf)