A care home has received a penalty after 45 people died in a month following a Covid outbreak. Family members of those who died have called the care home a “joke”. The penalty was $150,000 (£113,655), which works out at around £2,500 per person who died.
St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Victoria, Australia, was convicted and handed the fine in the County Court on Tuesday morning. The care home pleaded guilty to a single charge of failing to maintain a safe working environment. It was charged by the workplace regulator WorkSafe after 45 residents died from Covid-related complications in the space of a month during 2020.
Family members of three residents said the result was “disappointing” and “absolutely ridiculous”, reports News.com.au.
Spiros Vasilakis, whose mother Maria died from Covid, said: “The key point is these people were placed in there to be taken care of and they weren’t.
“In their most crucial time of need … they (St Basil’s) completely dropped the ball.”
Maxine Tsihlakis said the death of her mother, Georgia Mitsinikos, would weigh on her until she dies.
She says: “$150,000 for 45 lives, how many years were shaved off their lives? It’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s a joke.”
The penalty for the care home comes after an ongoing inquest and a separate class action lawsuit which some families chose to also file.
Judge Trevor Wraight said that while many residents died, the case brought by WorkSafe was “limited to its failure to adequately train its employees”.
He said: “The evidence reveals the company was cognisant of its need to protect residents and staff.
“In my view St Basil’s was well aware of the risk … here, there were weaknesses in the system that resulted in five of its employees not receiving appropriate training.”
The care home organised training sessions for staff and worked to update its policies at the time to deal with Covid.
However, five staff members did not attend any of these sessions and not all staff working at the facility understood the appropriate measures, the court was told.
Judge Wraight said the failure represented a “relatively serious breach” of workplace safety laws.
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