Due to the rapid spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Australia and the known risk to elderly people, our aged care homes will be entering into a period of stringent access controls, effective from 10am today (23/3/2020).

This means, we will be:

  • stopping all visitors to our homes, including family and friends;
  • restricting staff movement both within and between our homes; and,
  • postponing visits from non-essential external service providers.

Essential visits, such as those from general practitioners and dentists, will continue at this stage.

These access controls will be in place for an initial period of two weeks, after which time we will reassess the situation, taking into account the best available medical and public health advice.

The restrictions will be implemented in a blanket approach across our six aged care homes, however there will be some exceptional circumstances, such as end-of-life care, in which we will support families to visit.

These arrangements will need to be discussed directly with the site Director of Nursing and will only be permitted if there is no risk of COVID-19 exposure.

Our new access controls are a proactive and necessary step to help us protect the health and safety of our residents at an unprecedented time for our country.

They are also consistent with measures being implemented by other major providers of residential aged care both within our state and across the nation.

In addition to these new measures, we will continue to enforce strict quarantine protocols to ensure staff do not enter our sites if they pose any potential risk of COVID-19.

Our community is facing a significant public health emergency, and strong, informed and rapid decision-making is required.

We take our role as a care provider incredibly seriously and we will continue to implement every necessary precaution to ensure the health and safety of our residents and staff.

We are acutely aware of the impact these restrictions may have on residents and their loved ones, and we will work to support ongoing communication and contact in any way we can.

We will use technology, such as video calls, to help residents stay in touch and we will implement new recreational activities to support residents’ emotional wellbeing.

We appreciate your continued understanding during this challenging time for our community.

Visit our coronavirus updates page for the latest information.