Aged care services minister Richard Colbeck has denied the sector is in crisis despite conceding the immense pressure on workers caused by COVID-19 ripping through aged care facilities.
Senator Colbeck fronted a hearing of the COVID-19 Senate committee on Wednesday, where he also in Hobart as Omicron swept through the sector.
Aged care providers have raised concerns they’re struggling to cope with a surge of infections across facilities as they grapple with widespread understaffing.
Labor Senator Katy Gallagher had pressed the minister over whether he accepted the residential aged care system “is in complete crisis.”
“No, I don’t accept that the system is in complete crisis,” Senator Colbeck replied.
“I know it is certainly very, very hard to manage the impacts, particularly of the Omicron outbreak. My view, and the data supports that, is that the sector is performing and has performed exceptionally well in what it’s doing.”
The committee heard 471 people have died from COVID-19 in aged care this year alone, more than throughout the whole of 2021, when 282 people died.
According to data released last Friday, COVID-19 outbreaks were active in 1,261 residential aged care facilities nationally, including 555 in NSW and 296 in Victoria.
Senator Colbeck said he didn’t deny the circumstances were “extremely difficult” but pointed to data showing the infection rate in aged care was around 0.58 per cent - the same as last year despite Omicron’s transmissibility.
He said this also compared to a 7.2 per cent infection rate of COVID-19 cases in residential aged care in 2020.
But Senator Gallagher hit back at the assessment: “there are outbreaks in nearly half of all residential aged care facilities, there’s nearly ten thousand cases in residents. They are isolated, they are lockdown, they can’t fill shifts.”
Senator Colbeck replied: “I'm not trying to downplay the experience of the workforce or providers at all. I'm just putting on the record that they are performing really well despite the difficult circumstances.”
The minister said the uptake of vaccination, improved screening processes, and infection control training and advice had helped aid this response.
Senator Colbeck was also forced to defend his decision to attend the Ashes cricket match in Hobart instead of a committee hearing in mid-January.
He backed his decision, saying he was balancing his sport and aged care portfolios and continued to work on the aged care response, while attending the match from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 January.
“I made a judgement call I have no option but to stand by that and take the criticism that comes from it,” he told the committee.
The Minister for Sport had declined a request to appear before the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 on 14 January, citing the need for officials to keep working on dealing with the Omicron variant.
He told the committee hearing he had held virtual meetings over the three days with aged care operators and the Health Department, discussing issues including booster clinics and understaffing
"I am very cognisant of the balance between my portfolios. It was a decision that I made, I have to stand by and live with it," he said.
The committee also heard that around 66 per cent of people living in residential aged care facilities have had a vaccine booster, compared to 89 per cent who had received two doses.
The federal government has said it has visited 99 per cent of residential aged care facilities to conduct vaccinations, but concerns over the uptake of booster doses remain.
Senator Colbeck said communication with aged care service providers had not uncovered why there was a discrepancy in the number of booster doses administered.
“Many providers are doing significant work to encourage [boosters] but there isn't that I can give you a specific answer as to why people are not taking it up,” he said.
Senator Gallagher also pressed officials before the committee on the connection between deaths in the aged care sector and those who had received a booster dose.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said he had repeatedly raised the issue with states during meetings of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, but this data had not been supplied.
“The challenge we have is that that level of detailed data is held by the states,” Professor Kelly said.
