Early in the COVID-19 pandemic it was evident that older people were most at risk of death from the virus (Wu et al., 2020; Zhou et al., 2020). Since that time, numerous reports have highlighting the high numbers of Covid-19 related deaths of older people, with the majority of these fatalities from aged care facilities (Yoursih et al., 2020).
The tragedy that arose in aged care homes globally as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic has been claimed to be the result of years of neglect (Werner et al., 2020). For example, aged care homes have been described as ill-equipped to stop the spread of the virus, lacking the resources to do so, and staffed by underpaid and untrained workers (Werner et al., 2020, p. 903). Other factors related to increased vulnerability of residents, including the spread of COVID-19 are timely access to medical care, nutrition, medication practices and hygiene in the facilities (Russell, 2020). These serious claims require investigation and action.
Recognition of the problems in aged care nursing homes is not new. In most countries, including Australia, some of our most vulnerable older members of society are accommodated in aged care homes which have poor funding structures which cannot support adequate care ratios of suitably qualified staff which is compounded by insufficiently regulated institutions (Werner et al., 2020). The pandemic has brought these issues to the forefront, exposing the years of neglect and failure by the institutions and governments to ensure a safe place to live and call home whilst ageing. These aged care homes should have registered nurse-led 24 hour care with timely access to high quality multidisciplinary review for those older people who need it.