Aged Care Risk !

There are eighty thousand aged care workers in Australia - and they are predominantly women.   Caring for the elderly is not one of Australia's highly paid industries and the work is often stressful.    It seems to attract dedicated workers who are aware that their absence will create problems in a nursing home if they take sick leave.   Consequently, they are more likely to "soldier on " if they contract a dose of the flu !

The annual influenza season is something nursing homes dread.   Last year the flu was linked to the death of forty-five of those in residential care, and yet statistics reveal that only forty-four percent of aged care workers are protected by the annual flu jab.

We seem to have some strange variations in our mandatory health laws.   Aged care workers are required to be immunised against Hepatitis B, Tetanus, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough - but there is no requirement for an annual flu jab.

That flu jab is free to all those over sixty-five, but all others outside that age group need to consult a general practitioner and buy the vaccine from a chemist.  Each year the flu jab contains hopeful protection against the main variety of flu infections expected but there are no guarantees.  The public is warned to maintain regular hygiene and wash hands before preparing food - and most nursing homes plead with relatives not to visit if they are suffering the flu.

Now the health people are sitting up and taking notice that we have this great extraordinary gap where only forty-four percent of those who work in nursing homes have had their annual flu jab.   More than half the people attending to the elderly are probably contaminated and their presence could be the main source of flu infections that plague the nursing home industry.

Some nursing homes pick up the tab for getting their workers a flu jab but many others stick carefully to the award, and it makes this optional.   At the very least, flu protection needs to be added to the vaccination chain that already applies to all those working in nursing home care.

Surely, this makes common sense. Nursing homes are a concentration of elderly people who mostly lack the health and vigour of the average citizen to ward off infection.  Very strict legislation applies to every aspect of the building and its services.  Fire sprinkler systems are required and evacuation procedures are tested on a regular basis.  Meal preparation must meet exacting health standards.

It seems to be a strange anomaly that nursing homes that close their doors to all visitors when a flu outbreak strikes also have the vast majority of their care workers potentially spreading the infection because they lack that simple annual flu jab.

Something that can be solved by the stroke of a bureaucratic pen !