NSW Health not told Aspen Medical staff had worked on Ruby Princess

NSW Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant says Aspen Medical did not inform NSW Health that two of its staff sent to work at Anglicare’s Newmarch House had worked on the Ruby Princess cruise ship two days earlier. The information was revealed during the NSW parliament inquiry into COVID-19 yesterday when Labor’s Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services Penny Sharpe asked why staff from Aspen Medical – contracted by the Government to provide a ‘surge’ workforce to operators experiencing outbreaks – were ”allowed to walk into Newmarch” and what testing they were given.

“We would not have been told where those nursing staff [for Newmarch] would have been sourced from,” Dr Chant told the inquiry. “Aspen would have employed those nurses and would have been requested to provide those nurses. There is no barrier to healthcare staff who worked with COVID-positive patients attending other places providing there is no breach in their PPE.”

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard added: “The question shows a profound lack of understanding of the NSW health system… NSW Health has no control over those matters.” Dr Chant added that Aspen has employed 30 staff to check if other staff were wearing PPE.

“The assertion you are making that they somehow introduced the virus into the facility, I am happy to follow that up,” she said. “Aspen would have been responsible for their staff wearing PPE, and they would have been deployed in accordance with the need.”

When Ms Sharpe raised that one Aspen staff member “was stood down for not wearing PPE”, Mr Hazzard replied: “Let’s not go blaming staff”.