News

COVID-19 is radically reshaping our daily experiences in ways that we could scarcely have imagined even a week or two ago. At this time, all of us who work in aged care are highly conscious of our responsibilities in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of older people receiving aged care and services.

Protecting vulnerable communities

International evidence tells us older people, and particularly those with chronic illness, are most likely to be seriously affected if they contract COVID-19, and for some, this might lead to premature death.

As you would be aware, to help protect vulnerable communities, the Commonwealth Government has adopted recommendations of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) – the key national decision-making committee for health emergencies – regarding restrictions on visits to residential aged care services. The Commonwealth Department of Health has subsequently issued guidance on the Department of Health website to help you implement the new provisions.

Read more:

COVID-19 – A message to approved providers of residential aged care services from the Commissioner (.pdf)

Published by: Donna Rayner, Rosemary Southgate, Anita Courtney & Melanie Tan

Following the World Health Organisation’s declaration that COVID-19 is a global pandemic, the Australian Governor General also recently made a declaration under the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth) that a human biosecurity emergency exists in Australia. Unfortunately, COVID-19 cases in Australia continue to rise and this will present significant ongoing challenges to the retirement living industry for months to come.

Retirement living operators who fail to adequately manage the risk may face legal and/or regulatory action, and risk long-term reputational damage in a highly-charged socio-political climate.

As retirement villages are governed by their respective State or Territory retirement village legislation, operators should be aware that Federal Government directions relating to aged care do not apply to villages. Rather, operators will need to look to Federal Government directions that apply to the general public and any relevant State or Territory (as the case may be) government orders/directions. For example, all States and Territories have declared a state of emergency pursuant to their relevant Health Act.

If you do operate an aged care facility please see our recent COVID-19 Alerts from our Aged Care Team here.

Read more:

Retirement living and the COVID-19 pandemic: 10 legal tips for retirement living operators

Just in – Aged Care COVID-19 Visitation Restrictions – Federal Government Announcement

In this issue:

• My Aged Care AUSkey users: change the method you use to access My Aged Care now!
• Services Australia Aged Care Quarterly Review
• Understanding and accessing Department of Veterans’ Affairs Services Webinar Series
• National Advance Care Planning Week

Residential Care:

• The National Aged Care Quality Indicator Pilot

Read more:

Information for the Aged Care Sector – Issue 2020/05 (.pdf)

We thank and acknowledge all of Australia’s vital health care workers for their ongoing commitment and dedication to providing Australians with the health care they need during this unprecedented time.

The Government has been consulting extensively with the AMA, RACGP, ACCRM, RDAA, and other key peak bodies and members of the medical profession and health professions, to ensure Medicare is responsive to the challenges of COVID-19.

Amendments to Medicare are being implemented quickly, but also in a staged and proportionate way to ensure critical health services can continue to operate, and the integrity of our health system is maintained.

The Government is also consulting with the AMA, RACGP, ACCRM, RDAA and other critical parts of the medical profession during the course of this week to further expand our telehealth response.

From today, the Government will enable all vulnerable general practitioners and other vulnerable health professionals who are currently authorised to use telehealth item numbers, to use telehealth for all consultations with all their patients.

This includes health care providers who are:

• aged at least 70 years old
• Indigenous and aged at least 50 years old
• pregnant
• a parent of a child under 12 months
• immune compromised.
• have a chronic medical condition that results in increased risk from coronavirus infection.

Read more:

Expansion of Telehealth Services

As the requirements on businesses continue to change, we may in the future need to close our main office in Melbourne.

If this does eventuate, then we will notify you of the change via this regular eNews platform.

As Help Desk support staff would then be working remotely, we will have to move all support channels to ’email only’ via support@manad.com.au and no longer offer our landline of 1300 62 62 32. Our existing email support ticket system will continue to operate as this can be accessed remotely.

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 we require further details, then we may request this or we will call you and then use TeamViewer so we can connect live to your PC and step through what you want to do.

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.

Finally, please don’t forget to include your email signature in ‘all’ replies, so we have quick and easy access to your key contact numbers.

Note: 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 Commonwealth Government has today released the second stage of its economic plan to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus and help build a bridge to recovery.

A total of $189 billion is being injected into the economy by all arms of Government in order to keep Australians in work and businesses in business.

This includes $17.6 billion for the Government’s first economic stimulus package, $90 billion from the RBA and $15 billion from the Government to deliver easier access to finance, and $66.1 billion in today’s economic support package.

Our economic support package includes:

• Support for households including casuals, sole-traders, retirees and those on income support
• Assistance for businesses to keep people in a job
• Regulatory protection and financial support for businesses to stay in business

Read more:

SUPPORTING AUSTRALIAN WORKERS AND BUSINESS

PRESS CONFERENCE – AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE, ACT – TRANSCRIPT – 22 Mar 2020

The Commissioners have decided to suspend all hearings and workshops for the time being, subject to ongoing review. This decision is a consequence of the evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and based on information available from the Australian Government.

The Commissioners said this suspension would also apply to group consultations which have been part of the engagement work conducted by Royal Commission staff.

This decision will immediately affect all hearings and workshops currently scheduled until at least the end of May 2020.

The Commissioners are carefully considering the implications this decision will have on their continuing work program.

The Commissioners emphasise that the health and wellbeing of staff and those engaging with the Royal Commission is critically important. The Royal Commission’s future work program will be informed by public health advice.

In making this announcement, Commissioners said, “Meaningful engagement with the sector is paramount to the work of the Royal Commission’s inquiry into aged care quality and safety, which is why we have decided to suspend all hearings and workshops. We must allow service providers and Government to fully focus on their response to the pandemic.”

The Commissioners recognise the substantial efforts being made by aged care service providers and health services, and their staff, in supporting the needs of older people during this crisis.

Read more:

Aged Care Royal Commission suspends hearings and workshops

On 18 March 2019, the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck, and the Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon Alan Tudge MP, jointly announced that providers of Commonwealth funded aged care services will temporarily be able to offer more hours to international students to ensure the care of senior and vulnerable Australians, as part of the campaign to combat the impact of coronavirus (COVID 19).

Read more:

COVID-19: Relaxation of student visa work

International students ready to fill critical staff shortages in aged care

‘Letter of Comfort’ from the Department of Home Affairs (.pdf)

The Department of Health recognises the ongoing efforts of CHSP service providers delivering care to older Australians at home and in communities during the COVID 19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Flexibility provisions

The flexibility provisions for 2019-20 and 2020-21 are being relaxed, allowing existing CHSP providers to transfer up to 100 per cent of their allocated funding between service types. Providers may only use flexibility provisions to transfer funding between already funded services. This does not extend to transferring funds between aged care planning regions (ACPRs). Requests to transfer funds between regions in exceptional circumstances must be approved by the department.

Read more:

Arrangements for CHSP providers during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is currently contacting all approved providers of residential aged care services by telephone to monitor and support them in their preparation for a COVID-19 outbreak.

This assessment contact will involve a regulatory official from the Commission contacting the provider to discuss their responsibilities under the Aged Care Quality Standards and to provide details about important guidance material that has been released including the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia (CDNA) infection control guidelines and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) advice on visits to vulnerable groups including residential aged care services.

The telephone call is not an assessment of performance against the Standards. The call will take approximately 10 minutes and arrangements will be made to call back if the provider is busy at the time of the call.

In the coming days we will also be conducting a short online survey of all aged care residential services asking them key questions about their preparedness for COVID-19 based on the CDNA and AHPPC guidelines.

We will continue to adjust our regulatory response to the COVID-19 outbreak in line with the latest advice and guidance from the Department of Health and other health authorities.

We thank all approved providers for their ongoing efforts to protect older Australians at this critical time.

Read more:

Assessment contact on preparing for COVID-19

Assessment contact on preparing for COVID-19 – questions (.pdf)

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreaks in Residential Care Facilities (.pdf)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice for public gatherings and visits to vulnerable groups – aged care facilities and visitors to residents