Some simple coronavirus health questions you can ask your aged care provider to learn more about the safety of your elderly loved ones.
The state and federal governments are being called to better support aged care workers who will be impacted by new restrictions.
The SA Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) wants both government bodies to find solutions that ensure aged care facilities are safety staffed and provide subsidies to prevent personal care workers from being financially compromised.
Premier Steven Marshall announced last week that personal care workers would no longer be allowed to work at multiple aged care sites; a move the ANMF said created unnecessary uncertainty for staff.
Read Next
Under the new restrictions, which come into effect next week, all doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and personal care workers will also be required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) including face masks when they come within 1.5m of a resident.
ANMF SA Branch CEO Elizabeth Dabars said there was no obvious reason why aged care workers were singled out for restrictions.
She said the State Government had not provided guidance on how aged care facilities would mitigate the potential staff shortage as a result.
“Whilst supporting measures to keep residents and staff safe from COVID-19, we struggle to see why restrictions on multiple employers are being applied to personal care workers but not applied to other groups of staff,†Ms Dabars said.
“We would have hoped the SA Government would have learnt from the chaotic introduction of similar restrictions in Melbourne and consulted with unions about the rules to be put into place and the measures to protect workers faced with cuts in hours and their incomes.
“As personal care workers continue to work in extremely challenging circumstances to provide care for frail and vulnerable Australians they just keep getting kicked while they are down.â€
Ms Dabars said the ANMF was concerned the restrictions would negatively impact the psychological and financial wellbeing of the “already burnt-out†workforce.
She said PPE was not readily available for use in some aged care sites, while other facilities had some but of substandard quality.
“Once again the rules are being developed in the absence of input from the organisations representing the workforce – the ultimate end users of PPE,†Ms Dabars said.