In September 2018, the ABC’s flagship investigative journalism program featured ‘Who Cares?’, a two-part investigation into the aged care sector.
The fallout was fast and furious – and widely credited with the Government’s decision to announce a Royal Commission into quality and safety in aged care the day before it aired – now the program is turning its attention to Anglicare’s Western Sydney home and the COVID-19 outbreak that led to the deaths of 19 residents.
You can watch a trailer for the program here.
The coronavirus outbreak at the aged care home – declared over by NSW Health on Monday, 65 days after the first case was diagnosed – was the second-largest cluster in Australia after the Ruby Princess cruise ship with 37 residents and 34 staff infected.
The media release states that the program will investigate the actions taken by the facility’s management and the health authorities as the virus spread.
This will include “key decisions taken by the facility and the state and federal health departments about the care of residents and the treatment of those that fell ill”.
A quote from one daughter reads: “They wanted whatever was going to happen to stay at Newmarch and be contained and not have it spread anywhere else in the community... I want someone to be accountable…this virus spread like the plague in there.”
Four Corners says that it filmed several families during the outbreak when the home was under lockdown, describing the weeks of separation between residents and family members as “torture”.
“Health authorities have now announced they believe the crisis has passed,” the statement concludes. “But for these families, the time has come for answers.”
The investigation has been spearheaded by ABC journalist Anne Connolly, who also wrote the ‘Who Cares?’ report for which she won both a Walkley award for Public Service Journalism and a Media award from the Australian Human Rights Commission.
That investigation proved to be not as shocking as expected – but what followed was months of intense media scrutiny as the Government moved quickly to deflect a public angered by the failure of a system broken by years of poor Government funding and rigid regulation.
The sector could expect a similar reaction to this new investigation.
While the Royal Commission has already pledged to look at the Newmarch House outbreak as part of its wider look into the sector’s response to COVID-19, the Commissioners had promised these hearings would focus on what could be done to better support aged care operators during outbreaks.
This program will intensify calls for a more stringent review – which could extend to the sector as a whole.
It will also be interesting to see whether Monday’s program features any of the praise from the Government for the sector’s handling of the pandemic – just this week, Health Minister Greg Hunt commended operators (and the Government) for its response.
One criticism of the ‘Who Cares?’ program was the lack of balance presented, with LASA CEO Sean Rooney the sole voice to step up for the sector.
Will the Government step up to defend Anglicare in the wake of the program? Given the response of its own Department of Health and Aged Care Minister, it would also seem to be under the microscope, that looks unlikely.
There is also the question of how the program will impact on the public perception of aged care.
As StewartBrown’s latest report revealed this week, residential occupancy had already fallen to an eight-year low pre-pandemic.
This fell even lower during the pandemic with most providers now trying to refill empty beds.
Families are already rethinking the decision to place Mum or Dad into residential care post-pandemic.
Despite the sector’s overall success in protecting residents during COVID-19 – with confirmed cases in just 1% of services – will that be remembered when viewers are confronted with images of grieving relatives and family photos?
One thing is clear – it will take a concerted effort by the sector to emerge from what is likely to be another attack on its ability to care for elderly Australians.
The program goes to air Monday 22 June at 8:30pm (AEST).
