Scale of coronavirus outbreaks in Victorian aged care could have been avoided, health secretary says

Health department head Brendan Murphy has admitted virus outbreaks in Victorian aged care homes could have been minimised with a quicker response.

Department of Health Secretary Brendan Murphy appears at the Senate Inquiry into COVID-19. Source: AAP

Coronavirus outbreaks in Victorian aged care homes could have been minimised if the public health response had been quicker.

Health secretary and former Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy says it's not possible to know what proportion of cases could have been avoided.

But with the benefit of hindsight, some of the spread could have been prevented.

"If the public health response had been more prompt we might have avoided some of the scale in the outbreaks in Victoria," Professor Murphy told a Senate inquiry on Tuesday.

"If we had stood up the Victorian aged care response centre earlier on, if we'd been aware, had prior warning that the public health response may have been compromised, that's something that might have prevented some of the spread amongst facilities."

He said a key lesson from Victoria was infection prevention control training needed to occur more often.

Professor Murphy reiterated comments he recently made to the aged care royal commission that the sector is under financial pressure.

"There are instances of poor quality care and system leadership and inconsistencies in staff training and leadership," Professor Murphy said.

"Home care needs reform and further investment."

Professor Murphy said a reform agenda was underway, but it would take years to fully implement.

"At the conclusion of this reform journey, the residential aged care sector will be in an even better position to respond to disease outbreaks in the context of another pandemic."

The federal government has been under intense scrutiny for its handling of the aged care sector.

More than 660 aged care residents across 220 facilities have died from coronavirus and thousands more have been infected.

And yet, the aged care regulator has visited just 13 per cent of nursing homes with outbreaks.

Fewer than 10 per cent have been sanctioned since the start of the pandemic.

"More evidence of the Morrison government's regulator failing older Australians in the middle of a deadly pandemic," Labor frontbencher Julie Collins said.

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