Author: Jesse

While washing hands with soap is considered to be the most effective way to practice good hand hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitisers can play an important role in keeping hands as free from harmful microorganisms as possible.

How hand sanitisers work

Hand sanitisers contain antiseptic ingredients. An antiseptic is a substance that is used on the skin to kill microorganisms or prevent the growth of microorganisms.

Hand sanitisers can be either hand washes for use with water or handrubs for use without water, and are regulated as either a cosmetic or therapeutic good (see below) depending on how they are used, what they contain and what they claim to do.

Read more:

TGA – Hand sanitisers and COVID-19

Good hygiene for coronavirus (COVID-19)

Published by: Anita Courtney, Dr Melanie Tan, Solomon Miller and Libby Pallot

To date, much of the focus within the aged care industry in relation to COVID-19 has been directed at residential care – the government directives exclusively so. However the home care sector is also facing unprecedented challenges arising from the COVID-19 crisis.

For example, last week the media reported a home care worker who had returned to work without disclosing recent overseas travel delivered home care packages and potentially put vulnerable clients at risk. The converse situation could also occur, whereby a client does not disclose COVID-19 exposure or infection to their home care provider putting the provider’s staff and other clients at risk.

Under the Aged Care Act approved home care providers are required to continue delivering agreed services to their clients, despite the current challenges. The security of tenure provisions under the User Rights Principles generally prevent a home care provider from ending an agreement on the basis of these types of challenges.

Read more:

8 legal issues for home care providers in the world of COVID-19

With the 2020 flu season not far away, all Australians — and especially those in vulnerable groups or age brackets — should arrange vaccination against seasonal influenza during the month of April.

Australians should speak to their GP, pharmacist or aged care provider to arrange a flu vaccination over the coming weeks.

Whilst flu vaccination does not prevent against COVID-19, a flu vaccination is critical to protecting the general health of Australians from influenza, which can take between 100 to 1,000 lives per year depending on the severity.

Expert medical advice is that everyone aged six months and over should be vaccinated against influenza this year, and every year, to protect themselves and others in the community.

From 1 May 2020, all aged care workers and visitors must have been vaccinated against seasonal influenza to enter an aged care facility.

The Australian Government has invested more than $80 million to provide more free vaccines under the National Immunisation Program in 2020 than ever before, including a new quadrivalent vaccine Fluad Quad® for people aged 65 years and over.

Read more:

Flu vaccination more important than ever during the month of April

Flu (influenza) immunisation service

In this edition:

• Increased investment in meal delivery services for older Australians
• New eLearning module on the use of Personal Protective Equipment in Aged Care
• Advice for care recipients at home and self-isolated

Read more:

Protecting Older Australians: COVID-19 Update – 1 April 2020

The department has released further information to assist residential aged care providers to understand the entry restrictions to aged care facilities that related to 2020 influenza vaccinations.

Read more:

Influenza vaccinations – Restrictions on entry into aged care facilities

Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Restrictions on entry into and visitors to aged care facilities (.pdf)

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