Higher wages, better working conditions and an abundant supply of rapid antigen tests are just some of the moves the Australian government should make immediately in the aged care sector to avoid further COVID-19-related deaths, experts say.
Aged care workers "are being paid meagre amounts of money, as other industries like hospitality and retail are incentivising people to come and work for them," Health Services Union national president Gerard Hayes told SBS News.
“As a result, these workers are leaving the aged care area,” he said.
The award wage for a full-time entry-level aged care employee in Australia is $21.62, slightly less than the award wage ($22.33) for a full-time entry-level employee working in the fast food and retail sector.
“Can you imagine that you can go and work in a range of retail stores and get paid more? If you drop a can of paint, you’re not going to kill them [in a retail store], but if you do that in aged care you will,” Mr Hayes said.
The comments come almost a year after a damning royal commission into the sector was handed to the government.
The royal commission recommended an increase in the award wages of workers in the sector.
“The government has chosen to do virtually nothing about it … Instead what the government has chosen to do is say: 'here’s a payment of up to $400', which will be taxed,” Mr Hayes said, referring to the two one-off payments of $400 for aged care workers Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Tuesday.
“Offering a trinket of $400 a week for a couple of weeks is insulting and I think the government just proves consistently that they don’t understand aged care,” he said, adding the government should boost wages by at least 25 per cent.
Full-time, entry-level award wages. Source: Supplied
As well as boosting wages, Mr Hayes said the government should also ensure better working conditions for aged care workers.
“The government should agree that aged care workers have permanent full time positions at one facility instead of two or three facilities,” he said.
“And then on top of that, the government should give people the training, support and – importantly – the resources so aged care workers can look after five to 10 people, as opposed to 20 to 30 people,” he said.
Mr Hayes' comments come as Defence Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday the military will be brought in if that’s what is required to alleviate pressure on the aged care sector.
“There’s an enormous amount more we want to do,” he told the Nine Network, adding if sending in the Australian Defence Force is “what’s required, that’s what we will do”.
Mr Dutton’s comments came in response to the rising number of COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths within aged care facilities.
According to data from the Department of Health, there were 29 active outbreaks of COVID-19 in Australian aged care facilities on 26 November. That number has now risen to 1,261.
While the government and medical experts believe the Omicron wave has most likely peaked, epidemiologists have warned another wave of a potentially more virulent and transmissible variant could erupt anytime.
“We’ve still got a large part of the world that is not vaccinated and well protected,” Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist and biostatistician with more than 40 years of experience, told SBS News.
According to data compiled by the New York Times, just 54 per cent of the world is double-vaccinated against COVID-19 and, Professor Esterman said, “that means there’s always a new chance of more variants arising".
Sean Rooney, the CEO of Leading Age Services Australia, which represents aged care service providers, said he was concerned about future waves.
“Our big fear is that we will see this wave of Omicron pass but the experts are telling us there will be future waves,” he told SBS news.
“And we also know we’re coming into winter with open international borders, [and] seasonal influenza is also a risk,” he said, adding the government needs to take immediate action to prevent more aged care deaths in the future.
The government should also ensure there’s an abundant supply of tools aged care workers need in order to perform their job without risking the lives of the people they care for, epidemiologist Nancy Baxter told SBS News.
“They should have access to proper masks, those are N92 and P2, not surgical masks, and they should have access to rapid antigen testing because focusing on identifying cases and isolating them is critical,” Professor Baxter, head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne, said.
“[The government] also needs to make sure these people have the ability to be off if they’re sick or exposed and not have it threaten their income,” she said.
Australia is now experiencing widespread community COVID-19 infection with the new Omicron variant as well as continued circulation of Delta, which has significantly impacted the residential aged care sector, a spokesperson for the Department of Health told SBS News in a statement.
“The government continues to provide ongoing support to residential aged care services impacted by COVID-19 exposure or outbreaks,” the spokesperson said.
