An inquiry into a deadly COVID-19 outbreak at a western Sydney nursing home has found some residents may not have died, if they had received proper care. Family members who lost loved ones at Newmarch House were in the coroner’s court today, as damning findings were handed down.
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00:00Vindicated, but still grieving.
00:05It's devastating, but yeah, she's not here with us now.
00:10For nearly five years, Mary Watson and Joyce Parker claimed their mother's death may have
00:16been avoidable.
00:17Today, it was confirmed.
00:20Mum's outcome could have been very different had she been cared for.
00:2493-year-old Alice Bacon was one of 37 residents who contracted COVID-19 at Newmarch House
00:31Aged Care Home in Western Sydney during an outbreak at the height of the pandemic.
00:36Over a one-month period from April 2020, 19 of those people died.
00:42An inquest has now found at least three may have had a different outcome if they'd been
00:47transferred to hospital, and in eight cases, the infection may have been preventable.
00:52As the Anglicare-run nursing home went into lockdown, infected patients were treated on-site.
00:58A decision had been made by NSW Health to stop these people going to hospital.
01:04Deputy NSW Coroner Derek Lee found that decision likely contributed to the spread, and that
01:11Anglicare failed to provide adequate leadership to frontline staff or sufficient communication
01:17to families.
01:19While a dire staff shortage gravely jeopardised infection control and led to lapses in care,
01:26which saw some residents missing out on medication and showers.
01:31There were also problems with the testing regime.
01:34We are sorry for the distress experienced and the loss of life during the COVID-19 outbreak
01:41at Newmarch House.
01:43Anglicare and NSW Health say they've updated their procedures and will consider if further
01:49changes need to be made.
01:51For the families of the residents who died, this day has been a long time coming.
01:57The inquest was held in mid-2022.
02:00They have been waiting two and a half years for the findings.
02:04Yeah, now we hope that we can sort of move on.