Login
iscover
Aged care facilities grappling with the latest COVID-19 outbreak will receive extended support from ADF personnel over the next few months.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The Commonwealth government has announced Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel would be available to support residential aged care affected by the COVID-19 pandemic until the end of September.
ADF was set to cease its support for the sector on 12 August, however, the term has been extended in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
This is expected to complement the government’s existing surge workforce resources provided by commercial suppliers, to remain in place until 31 December 2022.
The ADF’s services include clinical and non-clinical support to aged care homes experiencing staffing shortages since February this year.
According to official government statistics, there were over 1,000 active outbreaks of COVID-19 in residential aged care homes across the country as of 22 July.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles said up to 250 ADF general duties personnel could be deployed over the coming months.
“The ADF teams have provided vital relief to a large number of aged care homes affected by serious COVID-19 outbreaks,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells said aged care providers and individual homes would continue to be responsible for managing staff, including surge workforce arrangements.
“When sufficient staff can’t be found during an outbreak, they will be able to ask the Department of Health and Aged Care to deploy a surge workforce, or ADF team, to support them through their immediate crisis,” Minister Wells said.
“This is expected to be for short periods to allow more homes to be supported during outbreaks.
“We need to protect our most vulnerable during this winter wave, and support from the ADF until September 30 will help buttress the workforce crisis we have seen in the past.
“The Defence Force into aged care is an extreme measure and, while it’s great news that ADF personnel will be available to residential facilities until the end of September, my priority is making sure aged care facilities have ongoing capacity to meet workforce shortages.”
[Related: ADF veterans complete cyber training program]
