00:00Vindicated, but still grieving.
00:05It's devastating, but yeah, she's not here with us now.
00:10For nearly five years, Mary Watson and Joyce Parker claimed their mother's death may have
00:16been avoidable.
00:17Today, it was confirmed.
00:20Mum's outcome could have been very different had she been cared for.
00:2493-year-old Alice Bacon was one of 37 residents who contracted COVID-19 at Newmarch House
00:31Aged Care Home in Western Sydney during an outbreak at the height of the pandemic.
00:36Over a one-month period from April 2020, 19 of those people died.
00:42An inquest has now found at least three may have had a different outcome if they'd been
00:47transferred to hospital, and in eight cases, the infection may have been preventable.
00:52As the Anglicare-run nursing home went into lockdown, infected patients were treated on-site.
00:58A decision had been made by NSW Health to stop these people going to hospital.
01:04Deputy NSW Coroner Derek Lee found that decision likely contributed to the spread, and that
01:11Anglicare failed to provide adequate leadership to frontline staff or sufficient communication
01:17to families.
01:19While a dire staff shortage gravely jeopardised infection control and led to lapses in care,
01:26which saw some residents missing out on medication and showers.
01:31There were also problems with the testing regime.
01:34We are sorry for the distress experienced and the loss of life during the COVID-19 outbreak
01:41at Newmarch House.
01:43Anglicare and NSW Health say they've updated their procedures and will consider if further
01:49changes need to be made.
01:51For the families of the residents who died, this day has been a long time coming.
01:57The inquest was held in mid-2022.
02:00They have been waiting two and a half years for the findings.
02:04Yeah, now we hope that we can sort of move on.
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