An ACT aged care facility has continued use of an outdoor marquee for visits with residents, despite ACT Health questioning whether the practice aligns with government advice.
Residents at Canberra Aged Care in Lyneham receive visits from their loved ones in a marquee erected outside the centre, with a clear plastic sheet between the resident and visitors.
Visits are also only allowed weekly, despite government advice visits should be allowed daily.
The marquee is heated and residents can sit shoulder to shoulder with their loved ones, with the protective screen in between them.
Visits to aged care facilities has been a point of contention between the government and managers of the facilities, who have argued that lockdowns over and above those required by the government are necessary to keep vulnerable residents safe.
Director Clayton Hutchinson said most residents and families supported the centre's strict lockdown measures, which include temperature checks, health declarations and protective equipment for anyone visiting. Family of people in palliative care were allowed longer visits in a specialised room inside the facility.
Of the facility's 100 residents, the majority have dementia, requiring a high level of care, and Mr Hutchinson said enforcing physical distancing with family in a room would be "almost impossible".
"People can touch their side of the plastic, touch hands, feel warmth through it, that's something you wouldn't be able to do inside the nursing home," he said.
A draft aged care visitor access code released on Friday set out an array of requirements for centres following reports some had refused visitors due to fears of COVID-19 transmission.
Under the code backed by peak bodies in aged care, visitors to the facility must not have any flu-like or COVID-19 symptoms, need to show proof of an up-to-date flu vaccination, and must stay for short periods unless they are a regular visitor assisting with care or the resident is dying.
Mr Hutchinson said with 60 families regularly booked in for half hour visits, daily visits were not feasible. He said a recent survey of residents and their families showed 90 per cent wanted the strict measures to remain for fear of an outbreak that has been seen in other nursing homes such as Sydney's Newmarch House.
Despite the low number of cases in the ACT, Mr Hutchinson won't risk opening the centre until two-weeks have passed without cases recorded.
"We're hoping this is short lived and we can take a step back from restrictions. But our families have asked us to go hard and lock the place down," he said.
Mr Hutchinson said ACT Health had questioned the centre's practices which do not align with government advice to allow daily visits.
ACT Health told The Canberra Times actions to protect vulnerable residents could have unintended negative consequences.
"For example, tighter visitor restrictions can have negative impacts on a resident's physical and mental health."
"Tightening of visitor restrictions may become appropriate if there is a case of COVID-19 or an outbreak of COVID-19 in an aged-care facility."
Council of The Ageing Chief Executive Ian Yates said the code of conduct allowed centres to take a personalised approach to general visits.
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He said health advice was that the risk of coronavirus coming from a visitor is "extremely low" when there are very few cases in the local community, however, restrictions on visitors outlined in the code would likely be in place for many months yet.
"You can expect the advice to vulnerable people will be more cautious than the rest of the population, so the same would apply to residential care. I don't think we'll see people being allowed to walk in and out of residential care facilities for quite some months."
"Several weeks ago we did have a few people contact us in relation to some particular over the top restrictions that were put in place, happily we were able to resolve those matters," ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said in April.
"My message is people should be able to visit their elderly relatives in residential aged care facilities with appropriate precautions but there should be no lockdowns in the ACT where visitors aren't allowed into residential aged care."
"The only circumstances in which you would restrict visitors completely would be if there was an outbreak in a residential aged care facility and we do not have any outbreaks in the ACT because of how well we as a community have managed this issue and that does stand in marked contrast to NSW and to some other parts of Australia."
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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