VISITS TO ELDERLY MAY CREATE ‘ANGST’ FOR SOME

Strict protocols to protect the aged likely to be the ‘ new normal’ well beyond Covid-19 lockdown.

“At will” visits to elderly relatives and friends in rest homes may be a thing of the past, at least until a vaccine is found for the coronavirus.

Aged care sector executive Simon Wallace says he believes this, along with strict surveillance testing of residents and staff in the country’s 665 facilities, will be part of the “new normal” in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

Wallace, the chief executive of the New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA), says he expects tough protocols to mean all visits will likely need to be pre-arranged, the number of visitors restricted and limits placed on the time people can stay.

“I think these measures will continue even if the so-called elimination of Covid-19 occurs,” he says. “I understand the angst families might have but at the heart of it all is the safety of our residents who are among the most vulnerable in society.

“This will be a new normal and it won’t be a situation where family can come in (to see relatives) at will. I realise this may be challenging for residents, staff and families, but it is the way it has to be until either there is no more Covid-19 or a vaccine is available.”

Wallace says during lockdown family were only allowed to visit aged relatives for end-of-life or palliative care scenarios and strict screening measures were imposed on them.

In many of these cases, visitors were checked for Covid-19 symptoms before being allowed in, were required to undergo temperature checks and asked to use hand sanitisers and face masks, conditions which Wallace expects will continue even when visiting criteria has been relaxed.

“I also expect most places to undertake surveillance testing of residents and staff,” he says. “It is likely we’ll prioritise areas that are more susceptible or where there is more movement (of people).

“We expect the public health authorities to do the testing but if not there is no reason why we can’t do it ourselves.”

NZACA has been pressuring the government to provide testing for all new rest home admissions: “We believe this should be mandatory whether people have symptoms or not. Why would you not test the most vulnerable people when there is testing in supermarkets and at roadsides?”

But Wallace believes the aged care sector has “done a remarkable job” despite the number of deaths (21 at the time of writing) and has certainly performed well compared to many other countries.

“We have 36,000 residents in 665 rest homes, but we’ve only had five open clusters,” he says. “We did go early in our preparedness and it helped too that the government went early with the (Level 4) lockdown. However, these measures will need to be ongoing because until there is a vaccine our people - many of whom are frail and have high care needs – are still at risk.”

Wallace’s views come on the heels of a recent report by the Te Arai Pallative Care and End of Life Research Group at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences which said more than half of all deaths (in New Zealand at the time of publication) were of people who lived in aged residential care.

“We have seen that once the virus invades these homes, it spreads like wildfire, not only to other residents but also caregivers and nurses,” the report said. “Worldwide, Covid-19 deaths for older people in care homes are staggering.”

The authors, who said the report reflects their opinions and not necessarily those of the university, said official counts in Europe indicate people living in care homes account for 54 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths.

Meanwhile Wallace says one of the learnings from the crisis was around how to utilise staff.

“We have 35,000 staff (including 20,000 caregivers and 5000 registered nurses) and issues like childcare and transport together with the fact we have a number who themselves are over 70 can lead to staff shortages during a time like this,” he says.

“We will be looking at how we can redeploy staff in these situations; we may move them from one company to another so residents don’t have to be moved and the workforce goes, in quick order, where it is needed.”