“The consequences can be catastrophic”: BallyCara’s Marcus Riley says visitor restrictions must stay in place

The CEO of the Queensland Not For Profit – and director of the Global Ageing Network (GAN), which represents aged care operators from around the world – has cautioned against the lifting of visitor restrictions in aged care homes, warning that it could put both residents and staff at risk. You can read the full story (written prior to the announcement of the new Code of Conduct) here.

“If the virus spreads in those types of environments (aged care facilities) it is very hard to contain – with tragic consequences,” he said, pointing to the figures that 50% of COVID-19 deaths in Europe were in aged care homes. “They’ve been in a living hell with both residents and staff dying.” “Through no fault of their own, it’s just how rampant the virus has been in those places.”

The CEO said residents don’t need to be confined to their rooms or subject to complete lockdowns, but stressed the importance of maintaining strict restrictions to avoid the same aged care death rates as Europe and the US – where over 11,000 residents have died.

“What’s been very difficult has been the very limited and compromised access to basic resources such as personal protective equipment (PPE), basic health and medical supplies, and great difficulty getting staff because they are either sick, have families who are sick or are afraid to come to work,” he said.

Mr Riley said he knew of cases in the US where aged care operators were paying staff $1,000 a day to come to work.

“There is a lesson for us here… if we become prematurely complacent about what we need to be doing then things can change very quickly and the consequences can be catastrophic,” he said.

The CEO added that this risk would increase as restrictions were relaxed in the wider community.

“For example, family members who come to visit in the next few weeks as community restrictions are relaxed are potentially going to be more of a threat because they will have exposure to more people and have potentially compromised social distancing and other preventative practices,” he said. “It is a genuine concern and a genuine threat.” “I just don’t think it can be answered yet (when restrictions should be lifted), because we don’t have enough certainty about how things will pan out over time.”