Federal Government bows to sector pressure, deploys ADF in aged care

Up to 1,700 ADF personnel will be made available to help in aged care homes across the country, providing assistance with general duty tasks, like waste management and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) management, under the direction of clinical staff at aged care homes.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says that this decision is in response to the ongoing Omicron issues that have impacted on aged care, however, the ADF will be limited in how they can assist providers.

“I want to be very clear about this, as I said several weeks ago, the Defence Force is not a surrogate workforce for the aged care sector. There are 285,000 people who work in the [residential] aged care sector,” says PM Morrison.

“…But the idea that the Defence Forces could just simply come in and fill that gap is just not realistic and was never a scenario or option that was under consideration because it was simply not feasible.

“But they will, they can and have provided quite targeted support in the aged care sector in extremes, in some of the most difficult situations.”

ADF personnel started induction training with healthcare provider, Aspen Medical, on the weekend before joining aged care staff.

From yesterday, four Quick Response Support Teams, including nurses and general support staff, will be deployed to assist in aged care. These teams will expand to include a total of ten Quick Response Support Teams by next week.

The ADF is currently preparing specialist teams of 50 personnel, with the ability to increase personnel to 200, who will be sent to four of the States that are currently experiencing the biggest COVID-19 related pressures, including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

PM Morrison stresses that the ADF is largely for support and only a minority of that assistance will be clinical support.

Additionally, 15 military panners will be deployed to the Department of Health to help coordinate the ADF support to aged care facilities.

Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, says that while Australia seems to be getting on top of the Omicron outbreak, aged care is still struggling, which is why the ADF support is so important.

“In terms of aged care, whilst we are seeing a decrease in the number of active [COVID-19] cases, we do know that there are significant pressures in specific facilities,” explains Minister Hunt.

He says that there will be three components to the ADF deployment:

1. Clinical support teams
2. ADF personnel to provide general support
3. Support for deployment of logistical and planning work

Minister for Defence, Peter Dutton, thanked the ADF members who will be providing a significant contribution to aged care facilities across Australia.

“This is a significant intervention by the ADF, up to 1,700 of our personnel will provide assistance at our aged care facilities, in particular at those which are most in need,” says Minister Dutton.

“[Minister Hunt] has led a lot of the effort within health augmented to provide additional support to those in aged care facilities, we will come in behind that.

“As the PM pointed out, hundred and thousands are involved in this workforce who need support and we are going to provide that support. But we can’t replace that (aged care) workforce, nor would we try to do that.”

A number of aged care peak bodies and unions have been calling for the ADF to be deployed into aged care to assist with workforce stresses and ongoing supply issues.

Aged care peak bodies, including Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA), and the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), have welcomed the news of extra assistance to alleviate the current aged care home crisis.

Sean Rooney, AACC Representative and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LASA, says that while it is a welcome announcement, it won’t fix all the problems currently occurring in the sector.

“We welcome the announcement. Over the past two months Omicron has had a huge impact, leaving aged care providers struggling to maintain essential services and to provide care and protection for older vulnerable Australians,” explains Mr Rooney.

“While the decision won’t alleviate all of the challenges currently faced by aged care providers, it will make a practical difference on the ground.

“We look forward to discussing the development in more detail with the Government at the earliest opportunity.”

Paul Sadler, AACC Representative and ACSA CEO, says that the organisations are looking forward to working with the Government on what this support will look like for aged care.

“The last two months has brought pressure upon pressure on the system and we have no doubt this will alleviate some of the strain on the ground,” says Mr Sadler.

“Of course, this should be complemented by a surge workforce, accessible RATs [Rapid Antigen Tests] and PPE equipment in aged care centres, and appropriate payments for aged care workers to reflect the exponential increase in care and safety they have had to provide since the pandemic began.

“These are things we have been repeatedly calling for as part of the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC).

“The aged care sector has been on thin ice, especially in the last few months of the Omicron outbreak, and the effects this has on the quality of care provided to older Australians is undeniable.

“The industry and unions have repeatedly called for support, and as the situation becomes more dire and the pressure mounts on the Government to take action it has become clear that it is now all hands on deck.”

On Sunday, the AACC wrote to Minister for Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, and Minister Hunt to propose a National Aged Care COVID Coordination Centre that would provide oversight and control of the pandemic response in aged care.

The AACC believes this centre would be appropriate for preventing outbreaks in aged care, managing responses during an outbreak, and assisting with recovery after an outbreak.

The centre would also ensure services and staff are prepared for future COVID-19 waves, for example with adequate supply of PPE and RATs, and give the centre the ability to call on the ADF for personnel in the case there is the exhaustion of a surge workforce.

The AACC is still asking the Government for:

• Appropriate aged care worker payments
• Better surge workforce arrangements
• Funding to cover increased costs on providers for COVID safety measures
• Reliable supplies and more efficient distribution of RATs and PPE
• Better data on infections and vaccinations to help better manage risk