It is expected that this requirement will be introduced through WA’s existing mechanisms (i.e. State Emergency directions) with the support of the Commonwealth which oversees compliance in the aged care sector.
However, no directive has yet been released by the WA government.
Financial support for aged care providers
It has also been announced that support will be offered by the Commonwealth in the form of the Residential Aged Care COVID-19 Employee Vaccination Support Grant, whereby residential aged care facilities will be paid for the following three categories of eligible expenditure:
- Casual staff going off-site for vaccination – a flat fee of $80 payable per staff member, per dose;
- Paid leave for casual staff who become unwell after vaccination and do not have other leave entitlements – one day’s paid leave (at a rate of $185); and
- Facilitation of off-site vaccination for employees – up to $500 per site in flexible vaccination facilitation costs per site, which may be used for activities like transport services; arranging groups of staff to be vaccinated; and/or any other reasonable expenses that support staff to get vaccinated.
Emerging considerations
Based on the limited information at hand, it is expected that this new requirement may involve comparable issues and considerations experienced by residential aged care providers last year, when the WA government mandated the influenza vaccine for workers at RACF sites.
At this early stage, residential aged care providers may want to start considering and developing appropriate actions in the following areas:
- Clear, transparent and timely communications to staff, residents and other stakeholders;
- Contingency staffing plans to ensure providers can safely maintain services at all times; and
- Industrial strategy for dealing with staff who might refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Panetta McGrath will provide further updates as the situation develops.
Authors: Natalie Zurita and Jesse Rutigliano.
