{"id":6008,"date":"2020-04-14T01:57:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=6008"},"modified":"2020-04-14T01:57:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:57:53","slug":"contingency-measures-to-ensure-continuity-of-aged-care-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/04\/14\/contingency-measures-to-ensure-continuity-of-aged-care-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Contingency measures to ensure continuity of aged care during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Emergency contingency measures will ensure aged care recipients continue to get the care they need during the COVID-19 pandemic.<br \/>\nThe Federal Government today launches a joint strategy aimed at strengthening the workforce to ensure staffing gaps are filled.<br \/>\nThe measures include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New emergency response teams on standby if there\u2019s a significant outbreak in a residential aged care facility;<\/li>\n<li>Remote locums to support aged care providers in remote Australia if they are unable to source staff; and<\/li>\n<li>Access to a surge workforce through the online platform Mable, to help providers if they\u2019re unable to fill critical skills because of infection or staff have to self-isolate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said COVID-19 Age Care Support Program funding will also help approved aged care providers with the costs of hiring additional staff and covering workers who are required to self-isolate.<br \/>\n\u201cWe are ready to help the Aged Care sector as we navigate through this difficult time together,\u201d Minister Colbeck said.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely critical we continue to have a strong workforce so there are no gaps in care, particularly in regional and remote areas.<br \/>\n\u201cAs unlikely as it might be, we have plans in place for worst case scenarios where an outbreak in aged care facilities mean local staff are unable to continue to provide care due to an infection in the service.\u201d<br \/>\nIt will be funded via the $101.2 million available for Age Care measures \u2013 part of the Federal Government\u2019s $2.4 billion support package announced on March 11.<br \/>\nHealthcare solutions provider Aspen Medical has been engaged to deploy the emergency response teams immediately to an aged care facility if a significant outbreak occurs.<br \/>\n\u201cNurse first responders are on standby in every state and territory in the event of an outbreak,\u201d Minister Colbeck said.<br \/>\n\u201cAdditionally, while it\u2019s unlikely, we need to ensure we\u2019re planning for parts of the workforce being unable to work.<br \/>\n\u201cIn an emergency situation, where large parts of the workforce or specific skills can\u2019t be sourced through existing channels, providers can access the Mable workforce platform to recruit workers in nursing, allied health, personal care, domestic assistance and social support service.<br \/>\n\u201cI want to stress these are temporary contingency measures and providers must show they\u2019ve exhausted usual recruitment channels.<br \/>\n\u201cThere\u2019s every chance these extraordinary measures won\u2019t be required in full &#8211; but it\u2019s vital we are ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emergency contingency measures will ensure aged care recipients continue to get the care they need during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Government today launches a joint strategy aimed at strengthening the workforce to ensure staffing gaps are filled. The measures include: New emergency response teams on standby if there\u2019s a significant outbreak in a residential &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/04\/14\/contingency-measures-to-ensure-continuity-of-aged-care-during-covid-19\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Contingency measures to ensure continuity of aged care during COVID-19&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}