In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus spread through the Anglicare-run Newmarch in April and May 2020. In total, 37 out of 97 residents tested positive with 19 dying over that period. A further 34 staff members also caught the disease.
Giving opening remarks on the inquest's first day on Monday, counsel assisting Simon Buchen SC said the main focus would be the "Hospital in the Home" program implemented by Newmarch in which sick residents were treated onsite rather than being sent to nearby hospitals.
"The inquest will focus on the decision or decisions to care for unwell residents within the home rather than pursuing other options such as transfer to hospital for care and treatment," he told Lidcombe Coroners Court.
Newmarch is a 102-bed facility which was opened in 2012 in the western suburb of Kingswood.
Mr Buchen said Newmarch had other problems with staffing, communication with families and management of the home, which also negatively impacted the care of residents during the outbreak.
While Anglicare did make preparations for what would occur at its 23 aged care homes in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak by early March 2020, these preparations were inadequate, the coroner heard.
"Those preparations were insufficient for an outbreak of the scale of the one that occurred at Newmarch House," Buchen said.
Newmarch was not the first aged care outbreak during the pandemic, Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee was told. On March 3, 2020 BaptistCare's Dorothy Henderson Lodge was also hit with the virus.
With that facility transferring COVID-positive patients to hospital, 17 out of 76 residents were infected and only six died.
"This represents a substantially lower infection rate and fatality rate than occurred at Newmarch," Mr Buchen said.
In detailing the lives and experiences of the 19 people who lost died during the 2020 Newmarch outbreak, a common theme in Mr Buchen's submissions was that family members mostly did not have an issue with the care offered at the home prior to the arrival of COVID-19, describing staff as dedicated, conscientious, caring and kind.
However, issues popped up during the outbreak, including residents still being able to socialise in the common areas of the home despite lockdown orders, doctors not wearing personal protective equipment and failures to deliver meals to residents' rooms.
There have been six past reviews conducted into the Newmarch outbreak since June 2020, including a hearing held during the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Shine Lawyers is also investigating a class action against Anglicare on behalf of family members of those who passed away because of alleged mismanagement at Newmarch.
The inquest continues.
