The Ministry of Health has published the Independent Review of COVID-19 Clusters in Aged Residential Care Facilities report to learn from clusters of COVID-19 in Aged Care facilities so New Zealand would be better to manage any further occurrences.
The report includes a number of recommendations for improvements which the Ministry will be seeking sector feedback on. Following this feedback, the approach, priorities and agreed actions can be confirmed.
Both the independent reviewers and the Ministry have acknowledged the work of staff and others involved in aged residential care to protect a vulnerable group of the New Zealand population, and in preventing and managing the cluster outbreaks.
The Ministry also recognises the willingness of the sector to participate in the review and to put in place measures to limit further clusters or infections.
The review examines in detail five clusters, as well as looking at a similar number of facilities which were largely unaffected.
The panel report has confirmed that the infections were introduced to the facilities by staff or visitors. ESR data shows that three facilities experienced staff cases first.
The key focus of both the reviewers and the Ministry is to improve systems to prevent similar occurrences. Addressing faults in our systems reinforces the quality improvement focus used throughout health and disability services. No blame is being attributed to any staff involved.
