The Aged Care and Retirement Living sectors have been severely affected by COVID, with elderly people remaining particularly vulnerable to the virus. Sadly, many of the COVID-related deaths were the elderly. In response, NSW Health provided special guidance and safety management plans to help aged care and retirement village operators create COVID-safe environments through measures such as physical distancing, hygiene , cleaning, vaccinations and record keeping.
Many Retirement Living and Aged Care facilities were required to lockdown their facilities to protect residents during outbreaks. In addition to visitor restrictions, support organisations also paused or postponed maintenance works as well as facility assessments for data collection.
Changes to the Retirement Living Act meant that Retirement Living operators need to meet compulsory compliance deadline of 1st July 2022. This means Asset Registers, Items of Capital Replacements, Maintenance and Asset Management Plans (AMPs) must be approved and shared with residents before that date.
For Retirement Living operators and the managers that run the facilities, this deadline exists regardless of the pandemic, and miminising exposure is vital in keeping residents safe.
So how can these assessments be conducted without compromising the safety of others? What measures can be put in place to minimise the risks of COVID when carrying out essential work?
To ensure protection of staff and residents of aged care and retirement living facilities, as well as our service providers, we’re continuously taking the following actions and have created an infection protocol for on-site inspections, involving steps such as:
1. Frequent Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) undertaken by all Assessors
We have proactively sourced RAT kits for use by our team members, distributing them across all Australian states to service all sites. We have also equipped a network of senior managers to mobilise rapid distribution. This is aligned with our Service Providers to ensure everyone who works with us has access to COVID tests – including regional areas. Forward-focussed and anticipating changes to the sector, AssetFuture have adequate supplies of Rapid Antigen Test Kits to enable the continuation of services without disruption.
2. Diligent hygiene protocols undertaken
All our staff wear personal protective equipment at all times, replacing N95 masks every four hours and also wearing suitable eye protection. Staff practice frequent hand hygiene, using sanitiser before and after visiting each unit. They also clean all touch points (if applicable), using hospital grade/TGA-approved wipes. Social distancing is strictly observed.
3. COVID case management
We’ve developed an in-house electronic database so managers or Team Members can record and track COVID-positive cases. This includes visual diagnostics to enable trend analysis of cases in community and quantify (and offset) potential roster impacts.
4. Sustained communications
We’ve clarified safety expectations with all Team Members including remaining at home if unwell. This includes establishing daily communication sessions at a state level to understand and respond to local needs. We’ve also developed internal, national communications to ensure consistency of messages and ensure all functions are aligned in response.
We have developed a Company COVID Safe Plan as part of our Risk Assessment & Safety Action Plan. This identifies different risks and defines specific actions and controls to mitigate threats associated with COVID-19.
We also have additional controls for Building Assessment teams. As well as masks, the use of PPE gloves is mandatory for all team members. All shared equipment is wiped down with disinfectant at the end of shift of before handover.
As we enter the third year of pandemic, we’re aware of the ongoing challenges our Aged Care and Retirement Living customers face. Our aim at AssetFuture is to ease the burden as far as possible, by ensuring safe and expedited facility assessments, giving managers sufficient time to submit all required reports to meet the July compliance deadline.