Series
Broken home: aged care and the horror of St Basil’s
Within a month of COVID-19 taking hold at St Basil’s aged care home in Fawkner, 45 of its 117 residents were dead with the virus. Another five died of neglect. Read our stories below on how the disaster unfolded, and the aftermath of what remains Australia’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak.
- Exclusive
- Aged care
COVID-hit St Basil’s pushed to the financial brink, latest report shows
The Melbourne nursing home where 50 residents died of COVID-19 has not paid rent in years and qualified for millions in JobKeeper as it battles to stay afloat.
- Ben Schneiders and Clay Lucas
‘Is dad dead or alive?’ How the care ran out at a broken St Basil’s
Within a month of COVID-19 taking hold at St Basil’s, 45 of its 117 residents had died. A five-week inquest has heard how the disaster unfolded.
- Clay Lucas
Church received $14.6m in 'exorbitant' rent from St Basil's over five years
The rent paid to the Greek Orthodox Church last year was nearly double the amount that would be expected, according to a council rates valuation and a commercial agent.
- Clay Lucas and Ben Schneiders
St Basil's bosses ordered to give evidence over COVID-19 outbreak
St Basil's chairman must testify at the inquest into COVID deaths at the aged care home in Melbourne.
St Basil’s bosses face court in bid to avoid fronting inquest
Two former managers of a Melbourne aged care home where 50 residents died during a COVID outbreak have launched a Supreme Court bid to avoid giving evidence to the coroner.
- Clay Lucas
Epping Gardens aged care facility owner charged over deadly COVID outbreak
Heritage Care is the second aged care operator in a week in Melbourne to be accused by WorkSafe of breaching occupational safety laws.
- Marta Pascual Juanola
St Basil’s bosses fight for right to stay silent over care home deaths
Kon Kontis and Vicky Kos were ordered to give evidence at the coronial inquest into the deaths of 50 aged care residents during a coronavirus outbreak at the St Basil’s Homes for the Aged.
- Rachel Eddie
‘Save yourself’: How Con got COVID at St Basil’s and lived to tell the tale
At St Basil’s aged care home in Fawkner last year, Con Velissaris was told: fend for yourself
- Clay Lucas
St Basil’s managers must give evidence, state coroner rules
Two managers at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner, where 50 people died during a coronavirus outbreak last year, have been directed to give evidence at the inquest.
- Brittany Carlson and Clay Lucas
Four days, zero action - regulator slow to act after St Basil’s first COVID infection
It took four days for the federal government agency meant to keep aged care residents safe to take any action, after it was told by St Basil’s nursing home that a staff member had tested positive for coronavirus last July.
- Clay Lucas
Aged care sector under fire as top nurse details St Basil’s ‘fit for purpose’ decision
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the likelihood of poor care for those in nursing homes, a new report says. Meanwhile, the Chief Nursing Officer has said the deadly outbreak at St Basil’s was not her fault.
- Clay Lucas
Amid the horror at St Basil’s, stories emerge of carers at their best
Residents at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged were failed by almost every organisation, but some carers sacrificed their safety in an attempt to save lives.
- Clay Lucas
- Exclusive
Nurses brought in to help at St Basil’s got COVID-19 after hotel party, inquest told
Eight nurses hired to help at the COVID-stricken aged care home partied at a Mantra hotel while off-duty, a carer has told state coroner John Cain.
- Clay Lucas
‘PM will expect private hospitals’: The offer never made to St Basil’s residents
It took 10 days to evacuate St Basil’s after the first death – despite a warning Scott Morrison and Greg Hunt would expect residents get private hospital rooms.
- Clay Lucas
‘St Basil’s was horrific’: Email tells of COVID heartache at aged care home
Australia’s Chief Nursing Officer Alison McMillan declared St Basil’s in Fawkner “fit for purpose” last July. Within a month, 45 residents had died.
- Clay Lucas
- Exclusive
How a disaster unfolded: Brief to Coroner sheds new light on St Basil’s deaths
Leaked documents from the police investigation provide graphic new details of the disaster, ahead of a five-week coronial inquest into 45 COVID deaths at St Basil’s aged care home in Fawkner.
- Clay Lucas
If St Basil’s had co-operated, fewer residents and staff would have got COVID-19, Sutton tells inquiry
The Chief Health Officer told an inquest had he not ordered the entire St Basil’s workforce be stood down last year, there would likely have been “substantially more infections and possibly deaths of residents” at the aged care home.
- Clay Lucas
- Exclusive
WorkSafe probes Victorian aged care homes as COVID threat returns
Workplace safety watchdog investigates at least 50 aged care homes over suspected health and safety breaches during last year’s deadly COVID-19 outbreak.
- Rachael Dexter
- Editorial
St Basil’s fiasco shows how once again we learn the hard way
This inquest yet another opportunity – as if we needed it after dozens of aged care inquiries – to reflect on how we, as a society, value our elderly people.
- The Age's View
Carer was allowed to work at St Basil’s despite family’s flu-like symptoms
The carer who brought COVID-19 into St Basil’s aged care home in Fawkner said she was allowed to continue working at the facility despite reporting to management that her family was unwell.
- Clay Lucas
Malnourished aged care residents left to fend for themselves during COVID outbreaks
Distressed aged care residents were left to fend for themselves in deadly coronavirus outbreaks last year, with a new report re-igniting calls for a national inquiry.
- Dana Daniel
Vaccination rates at every aged care facility made public
Australians can now see how many aged care workers are vaccinated at every facility in the country.
- Jennifer Duke
Details revealed of St Basil’s deadly COVID-19 outbreak
Doctors who visited the Melbourne aged care home amid the country’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak said they feared that those left behind when staff were removed would starve to death.
- Erin Pearson
Vaccinated people catching COVID no cause for alarm, say experts
Cases of fully vaccinated Australians catching COVID-19 are part and parcel of how vaccines work and should not raise undue concerns, say experts in the field.
- Liam Mannix
Aged care homes seek cut to number of plaintiffs in COVID-19 class action
Two aged care homes in Melbourne’s north where a combined 83 residents died in COVID-19 outbreaks want a Supreme Court judge to make a ruling that would reduce the number of people in a class action against the centres.
- Adam Cooper
‘Damage control’: Grieving relatives angered at St Basil’s over COVID deaths memorial service
Family members of people who died in Australia’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak say the offer to attend a one-year memorial service is the first meaningful contact they’ve had from the Fawkner aged care home.
- Clay Lucas
COVID-19’s return to aged care homes puts spotlight on workforce
It has emerged this week that fighting coronavirus in Melbourne’s aged care homes is as much about workplace relations as it is about health.
- Clay Lucas
- Opinion
What we must do as aged care faces COVID threat
The excuses and obfuscation around what happened in aged care has the same pattern we saw last year with the horrific situation of the second wave of COVID.
- Joseph Ibrahim
St Basil’s staff given outdated infection control training, court told
Some of the care home’s elderly residents were left starving in their rooms and in soiled clothing for days during a deadly coronavirus outbreak, a court has heard.
- Melissa Cunningham
Future of St Basil’s aged care home in doubt after Commonwealth halts funding
St Basil’s Homes for the Aged – site of Australia’s worst coronavirus outbreak – has lost access to federal payments, as the safety regulator warns of ‘immediate and severe risk’ to residents.
- Ben Schneiders and Clay Lucas
- Exclusive
St Basil's and Epping Gardens review 'not independent', say experts, families
Aged care experts and families of the dead question the independence of a Morrison government report into what unfolded at St Basil’s and Epping Gardens homes.
- Clay Lucas
- Exclusive
Aged care mogul facing legal action lists Toorak mansion, leaves for Greece
The co-owner of Epping Gardens nursing home, which is the subject of several investigations and a major class action over the deaths of 38 residents from COVID-19, has gone to Greece and is unable to say when he will return.
- Cameron Houston
Report into St Basil's and Epping Gardens COVID-19 outbreaks highlights failures
More than 80 residents died during the two largest aged care COVID-19 outbreaks in Victoria. The report highlights weaknesses in the response.
- Clay Lucas and Rachel Clun
Report into St Basil's and Epping Gardens COVID-19 outbreaks highlights failures
More than 80 residents died during the two largest aged care COVID-19 outbreaks in Victoria. The report highlights weaknesses in the response.
- Clay Lucas and Rachel Clun
Residents 'failed' as second coronavirus outbreak hits nursing home
Estia aged care had a COVID outbreak at its Keilor home in July. A resident returning from hospital sparked a second wave last month.
- Clay Lucas
- Editorial
The nation has failed to protect loved ones in aged care
It is not enough to save lives. The people who live in aged-care centres must have the finest care we can provide, and visits by family and friends are core to their physical and emotional wellbeing.
- The Age's View
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