People at the centre of one of Australia’s deadliest Covid-19 outbreaks suffered appalling conditions, an inquest has been told.
Residents at a Melbourne aged-care home where dozens died from Covid-19 and neglect were emaciated, with one couple whose hips were sticking out, a court has been told.
Jacinta MacCormack was one of the clinical care responders sent in as part of a workforce “surge” after a coronavirus outbreak at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged.
She told a coronial inquest on Tuesday that it was obvious from the moment she started seeing residents on July 22 last year they were in desperate need of care.
“You could just tell they didn’t have the nutrition, the food that they needed,” Ms MacCormack said.
“They were unwell, they just didn’t have enough food in them.
“There was a couple that actually looked quite emaciated, their hips were sticking out.”
Ms MacCormack – who has been a nurse for 41 years – also told the court one patient who had not been properly cared for was immediately transferred to hospital.
Five residents at the centre in Melbourne’s northern suburbs died of neglect while 45 died of Covid-19, in one of the country’s deadliest outbreaks at an aged care home.
Ms MacCormack was also quizzed about the handover process, after the state’s chief health officer Brett Sutton ordered staff out of the home, deeming the workforce close contacts.
She told the court that the transition was “not comfortable at all” and workers at the aged care home were “hostile” towards the handover staff.
“Once it was ascertained that staff were going to be stood down the whole atmosphere within the centre changed, the management were quite hostile,” Ms MacCormack said.
“They were not forthcoming with giving us information we needed to make the transition easier.
“You could just feel it in the air, it was not pleasant, it was not comfortable at all.”
The centre recorded its first positive Covid-19 case on July 9.
Nurse Lubo Zhang – who had worked at the home since 2015 – said not all staff had been wearing masks leading up to the first case.
It was only until “one or two days after” the outbreak where workers started donning full personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gowns, face shields, gloves and masks.
All residents were evacuated to hospital on July 31.
The five-week coronial inquest into the deaths of residents at St Basil‘s will hear from about 65 witnesses, including nurses, centre managers and family members of the loved ones who died.
Originally published as Residents at St Basil’s Home for the Aged were ‘emaciated’, coronial inquest hears
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