ANYONE who has visited the Newcastle local government area in the past 14 days will not be able to visit an aged-care facility in NSW.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NSW Health has told aged-care providers to restrict access until further notice due to the emerging cases of COVID-19 in the LGA.
It means visitors are barred at all centres in Newcastle and Novocastrians will not be able to visit facilities in neighbouring LGAs.
Providers told the Newcastle Herald on Friday visitors would only be allowed in emergency-care or end-of-life scenarios.
Communication between residents and family or friends is effectively reduced to phone or video calls.
Presbyterian Aged Care CEO Paul Sadler said the measures would be "difficult" but were critical to preventing COVID-19 from spreading into aged-care facilities.
"It potentially puts pressure on everybody," he said.
"We've had to adopt a range of new practices both in terms of vetting people as they come in but we've also made extra iPads available and put on staff so they can help families Zoom [residents].
"We've assisted with additional recreational programs but often they've had to have some level of distancing, which has been difficult for residents to adapt to.
"But I think we've all got the unfolding tragedy in Victoria reminding us just how risky life is with this [virus] circulating in the community."
Presbyterian Aged Care's centre at Stockton, Wescott, has about 100 residents and a similar number of staff.
Under the health order all aged-care staff in Newcastle, or staff who reside in Newcastle but work in other areas, must now wear a face mask while at work.
"What's been evident is staff in Victoria have often been the vector; they pick it up in the community and bring it in," Mr Sadler said.
"The restrictions on families and other visitors provide a level of extra protection, but staff still have to come in.
"So we're very conscious about all staff being temperature tested and we're constantly updating the information from NSW Health on where there are [local venues] that have been visited by someone who is COVID positive. We're asking those questions of staff on a daily basis."
There are 5910 people in Hunter aged-care facilities.
A spokesperson for Uniting, which runs multiple aged-care homes in the Hunter, said visitors would be excluded from its facilities in both the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie LGAs "for the foreseeable future".
"All employees and contractors working in these services are also required to wear masks," the spokesperson said.
"Uniting homes in the Greater Sydney and Central Coast regions will also be making further changes to our visitation policy in response to growing concerns about community transmission which will restrict visitations to only be on compassionate grounds.
"Prior to NSW Health's announcement, Uniting homes have permitted visits to our services by a family member if a resident's health and wellbeing would be enhanced with face-to-face contact with a relative."
While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here
IN THE NEWS: