The death toll at the stricken aged care home which has become New South Wales’s second-largest coronavirus cluster has risen to four following the death of a 79-year-old woman on Thursday morning.
One day after the federal government promised it would step in to provide “unlimited workforce support” in what many described as a commonwealth takeover of Newmarch House, families continued to sound the alarm about inadequate care for their loved ones.
Anglicare, which is now seeking help from the federal government to cope with a severe staff shortage prompted by the outbreak, said it was still “one-third” down on required staff numbers.
Families were set to meet with Anglicare and officials of the Department of Health via teleconference on Thursday afternoon after they protested outside the facility’s gates on Wednesday.
In a statement shortly before that meeting, Anglicare said the 79-year-old resident, who had tested positive for Covid-19, died in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The woman had serious pre-existing health issues, Anglicare said.
“I have talked directly to the immediate family of the resident and conveyed our sincerest condolences,” said Grant Millard, Anglicare Sydney’s chief executive.
NSW Health also confirmed another two Covid-19 cases – one staff member and one resident – at the facility on Thursday.
Forty-four people – 29 residents and 15 staff – have now tested positive at the aged care home in Sydney’s west.
With 55 staff members in isolation, families continued to raise concerns that residents were not receiving adequate care while strict isolation protocols are in place.
Savannah told Sydney radio station 2GB on Thursday that her 92-year-old grandmother’s “dignity was stripped” when she was forced to go to the toilet in a garbage bin.
Savannah said her grandmother had been unable to access her locked bathroom and while staff had briefly attempted to open the door, those efforts had failed.
Savannah told 2GB her grandmother had also not been showered in days, which she attributed to efforts to stop the spread of the disease, and that her sheets were also not being changed.
Louise Payne, whose 89-year-old mother Yvonne has tested positive at the facility, told the Nine Network on Thursday morning families were “extremely worried”.
She said the operator had not adequately communicated with families and there was a lack of transparency around its plans to cope with the outbreak.
“If we could just know the nurse to patient ratios for Covid and everybody else there,” Payne said. “What is their daily plan? We don’t know. Are they taking their temperatures three times a day; is it once a day; is it once every two days?”
The aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, insisted on Thursday morning that staffing levels were almost restored and denied accusations the federal government was slow to respond.
“I would be very distressed if I had a relative in there,” Colbeck told Nine Network.
But Anglicare said at least one-third of the staffing still needed to be met and safety requirements meant it was taking staff at least five times longer to deliver care.
“We appreciate and understand why families are upset, frustrated and disappointed,” Millard said.
Specialist doctors and nurses have been sent to the 95-resident facility in Caddens, near Penrith, which is now the second-largest Covid-19 cluster in NSW after the Ruby Princess.
The federal deputy chief officer Paul Kelly said unlimited workforce support had been offered to the facility.
A staff member who worked for six consecutive days with mild symptoms, primarily a sore throat, introduced the virus to the facility earlier this month.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the commonwealth was working with the NSW government and was responsible for funding support, but noted that “regulatory responsibilities are held at a state level”.
Labor’s aged care spokeswoman Julie Collins said the government had been too slow to act.
“The residents of Newmarch House and their loved ones deserve answers from the Morrison government,” she said.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
