There’s a very large and potentially risky loophole in the COVID-19 rules surrounding a large segment of the aged care workforce.
The federal government has revealed rules requiring aged care workers to work at a single site during COVID-19 outbreaks do not apply to agency staff, including labour hire contractors and emergency workers — a large portion of the aged care workforce.
The single site guidelines have been heavily criticised for not going far enough to mandate privately owned facilities ensure staff work only at one site to limit the spread of the virus. After introducing the rules at the height of Melbourne’s lockdown last year the government later withdrew them. The measures were reintroduced last week — after greater Melbourne was declared a hotspot.
The Health Department said the single site workforce arrangements excluded agency staff so as to ensure no facility was left without sufficient or appropriate staff.
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