RMIT expert available for comment on the federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in aged care

RMIT expert available for comment on the federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in aged care

An expert from RMIT University is available to talk about the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in aged care.

Distinguished Professor Sara Charlesworth (0412 889 122 or sara.charlesworth@rmit.edu.au)

Topics: gender equality in employment, job quality and decent work, social care workforce, industrial and anti-discrimination law and practice, intersection of work and care

“The inadequate staffing of aged care in Australia has been laid bare by the COVID crisis. 

“Short hours and casualised contracts mean many aged care workers have to work across multiple facilities in order to make ends meet. 

“At a Senate Committee hearing yesterday, the federal government has admitted that action should have been taken earlier to prevent aged care deaths in Victoria.

“Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety also found that the federal government did not have a specific COVID plan for aged care, even after the initial outbreak at Sydney’s Newmarch House at the beginning of the pandemic and even after the COVID outbreaks in Melbourne aged care.

“The lack of a specific plan has put aged care residents and home care clients at risk. Aged care workers have also been put at risk with Victorian government data indicating that as of 22 September there had been 1681 cases of COVID-19 acquired by aged care workers, with the overwhelming majority of infections acquired in aged care settings.

“The federal government has spent millions of dollars to provide ‘surge staffing’ to aged care facilities affected by COVID outbreaks. However, it has done absolutely nothing to ensure that existing staff have the pay, working conditions and time to provide good care to the thousands of frail older people who rely on the aged care system.”

Sara Charlesworth is the Director of RMIT’s Centre for People, Organisation and Work and Professor of Gender, Work and Regulation in the School of Management. 

***

For media enquiries, please contact RMIT Communications: 0439 704 077 or news@rmit.edu.au

 

30 September 2020

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30 September 2020

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