THE federal government's shift to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for residential aged care workers now "after months of inconsistencies" has been criticised by those working in the sector.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association (NSWNMA) said given the Commonwealth government's "poor management" of the rollout to date, the move to make vaccinations compulsory by September was another example of its inability to properly support the industry.
The association called for the government to provide on-site workplace vaccinations for aged care workers.
"The Commonwealth failed the aged care workforce back when it chose to only deliver vaccinations to residents in residential aged care facilities, leaving staff to fend for themselves," NSWNMA general secretary, Brett Holmes, said. "If the rollout was properly streamlined to incorporate the vaccination of aged care staff at the same time as residents, we wouldn't be in this predicament."
Viv Allanson, the chief executive of the Maroba aged care facility in Waratah, agreed that the vaccination rollout "should not have come to this".
"It should have happened earlier, and it should have happened in conjunction with the government doing what they said they would do in February - and that was to show up at every aged care facility in Australia and give the staff the vaccination," Ms Allanson said.
"There was mixed messaging. They were going to bring it to aged care staff, then: 'We won't now, they will have to find their own way, or talk to their GP' - forgetting that GPs were given the job of giving vaccines to phase 2a and 2b people, not 1a and 1b.
"We were 1a - we were in the highest priority in the nation, and here we are, lagging behind incredibly."
Ms Allanson said while she was "thrilled" many staff said they would get the vaccine, they were struggling to get the necessary appointments.
"Again, the government is making something mandatory without putting in any measures to make it easy for workers to get that jab," she said.
Some staff members had indicated they would leave once the mandate took effect.
"To lose even one person at the moment is going to put a lot of pressure on aged care," she said. "Everyone is struggling because there is such a high level of cold and flu symptoms, which means our workforce cannot show up, and there is no agency staff available."
HammondCare's Angela Raguz said while they agreed it was vital frontline workers in aged care were vaccinated as soon as possible, they would have preferred staff to have elected to be vaccinated based on clear information about risk and easy access to vaccines.
