Families outraged by small fine for St Basil’s aged care home
Families of 50 residents who died at a Melbourne care home during Australia’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak have been left angry and heartbroken after the home was fined $150,000 by the Victorian State Court.
St Basil’s Homes for the Ages in Victoria has been accused by workplace watchdog WorkSafe of failing to provide necessary information, instruction and training to enable employees to work safely and without health risks in 2022, after 45 residents died from COVID-related complications within a month of the first outbreak in 2020.
Five more residents died due to alleged negligence, according to the forensic investigation.
Earlier this month the Melbourne aged care provider pleaded guilty in the District Court to failing to provide staff with a safe working environment during the coronavirus outbreak between March 13 and July 12, 2020.
At a sentencing hearing in the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday, Judge Trevor Wraight said St Basil’s had failed to adequately protect staff and residents from the coronavirus threat and fined the aged care home $150,000.
The judge noted that while the aged care home attempted to implement some infection control measures and training between March and July 2020, there was “no use” in keeping a system in place unless all staff were aware of it and it was properly monitored and enforced. The house was hit by the deadly coronavirus outbreak in July and August of that year.
“There were weaknesses in the system here that resulted in five employees not receiving the adequate training required, leading to the identified risks,” he said.
“In my view, in any event, St. Basil’s departure from office on this occasion represents a relatively serious breach.”
But outside court, families of those who died in the care of St Basil’s Homes described the fine as a joke and an insult.
Spiros Vasilakis, who lost his mother Maria during the epidemic, demanded that someone be held responsible for the deaths.
“A fine of $150,000 for 45 lives… That’s a fine that fails the pub test,” he said.
“A fine, I’m sorry, doesn’t cut it. What does cut it is for someone to be held accountable.”
He said the aged care home had failed in its duty to care for his elderly mother and many others at “the most critical time”.
She was horrified and shocked to learn that after her mother’s death, the aged care home was trying to use her image to promote their reopening.
“I got an anonymous call to check out their website. I went to their website and they are using my mom’s picture as a selling point to reopen,” she said.
In handing down the fine and sentencing, Wraight said he would fine the facility $250,000 if the nursing home did not plead guilty. The maximum penalty will be a fine of almost $1.5 million.
The judge found that following the publication of national guidelines for residential aged care on March 13, St Basil’s failed to provide all staff at the facility with appropriate training on the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and mitigating measures to protect them and residents against the virus.
At the start of the outbreak, St Basil’s had 92 residents and 102 staff.
Several training sessions were held with external doctors and infection control nurses at the Fawkner aged care home in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the court was told.
However, five staff members did not attend any of these sessions, and not all staff working at the facility understood the appropriate precautions needed to prevent transmission during an outbreak, including how to don and doff PPE.
The first confirmed COVID case came on July 9, and by July 15, when all staff and residents were tested, dozens of cases had been identified.
After the sentencing, Maxine Tsihlakis told reporters outside the court that she was speaking on behalf of her mother Georgia, who died at home.
“This is a joke,” he said, holding back tears. “The pain we are experiencing… is akin to murder. They must be held accountable.”
Tsihlakis said he was haunted by his decision years ago to move his mother, who had dementia, into the home.
in 2021 Age Conditions at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged during the deadly COVID-19 pandemic reportedly became so dire that some residents attempted to break down the centre’s front door to escape the chaos and find food.
A field report compiled at the peak of the epidemic in July 2020 revealed “there was no physical distance” [among temporary staff] …clinical waste bags lying in corridors, stacked in hallways, (left open) in residents’ rooms, lots of dirty food trays lying around [the] facility”.
Northern Hospital senior doctor Sandra Brown, who visited the team during this period, warned that “residents were starving and dying of dehydration as their basic care needs were not met”.
A criminal investigation into 45 coronavirus deaths is ongoing and allegations have been heard that residents were not properly fed or cared for throughout the outbreak.
Coroner John Cain was previously told evacuation of residents was never seriously considered during the outbreak and instead outbreak managers replaced all staff with an emergency workforce.
St Basil’s is also facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly breaching its duty of care led by the families of those who died.
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Melissa Cunningham is The Age’s crime and justice correspondent. He had previously been interested in health.Connect with: X or email.
