War games and $2B cash required, says LASA
"We need to plan for the worst, we need to stress test those plans and war game them, so we're absolutely assured that, in the event of widespread community outbreak, we know where the surge workforce is coming from, we know where the PPE is and how...
Leading Aged Services Australia (LASA) has called on the federal government for $2 billion in federal funding to prepare the aged care sector for COVID-19 in its pre-budget submission. LASA says the funding, which would be used for activities like training, cleaning, PPE, building a surge workforce, and random testing, is critical for the sector. "We need to plan for the worst, we need to stress test those plans and war game them, so we're absolutely assured that, in the event of widespread community outbreak, we know where the surge workforce is coming from, we know where the PPE is and how we're going to dispose of it,” Leading Aged Services Australia chief executive Sean Rooney told Fairfax. "All of those things that we've seen happen in Victoria, we need to plan and prepare and those state centres should have that as part of their remit - not just co-ordination and response when there's a community outbreak." Fairfax notes this funding would be double the amount currently provided per resident $7 to $15, and increase funding for home care recipients from $1.68 per day to $5.
