Aged care home assessed before deadly COVID outbreak

The aged care regulator approved of a Melbourne facility's COVID-19 policies before an outbreak that led to dozens of residents' deaths, a court has been told.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission assessed Epping Gardens aged care home's preparedness for an outbreak ahead of its first confirmed COVID case on July 20, 2020. 

It found the home's policies were clear and concise, its training systems were robust and the staff knew what they were doing, former Epping Gardens general manager Alistair Cooray said.

He agreed it gave him confidence the facility was well prepared for an outbreak.

Victoria's workplace regulator is prosecuting Heritage Care, which is the parent company of Epping Gardens, after 89 residents and 65 staff contracted COVID during the 2020 outbreak.

Thirty-four residents died from the virus or related complications.

Epping Gardens' director of nursing tailored government advice for what staff should do in the event of an outbreak, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told during a committal hearing on Tuesday.

When the first COVID case was confirmed at the home on July 20, senior staff came together and reinforced the importance of workers wearing personal protective equipment at all times, Mr Cooray said. 

The facility went into lockdown but there were "a couple of wandering residents", handled by staff monitoring the halls, he said.

Mr Cooray couldn't confirm whether Epping Gardens staff called residents' families every day following the outbreak, but said: "Everything that the government put out for us to do, we did."

He conceded there was no reason training about personal protective equipment couldn't have been mandatory for all staff, like hand hygiene training was.

The former boss said he believed a directive for aged care homes to ensure staff were adequately trained and competent in all aspects of outbreak management applied to himself and other senior staff.

Prosecutors put to him that all staff including hospitality and volunteer workers had to understand and be competent in infection control guidelines as per official guidance.

He agreed that would have included being able to understand how to properly use personal protective equipment. 

Only about 35 staff completed a hand hygiene and personal protective equipment audit before the July outbreak, prosecutors say. 

WorkSafe alleges Heritage Care failed to provide and maintain a working environment that was safe and without risks to health between March 13, 2020 and July 20, 2020.

The watchdog alleges the company did so by failing to provide the necessary training to staff and failed to ensure residents were not exposed to health and safety risks.

The committal hearing continues.