Staff cuts, 1,000 workers with coronavirus and face masks kept in locked boxes: Nursing union makes stunning claims about Victoria's aged care homes at royal commission

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Health bosses have been left 'shocked and deeply disturbed' by details heard in a royal commission into coronavirus deaths in aged care homes.

Members of the nurses union made a series of explosive allegations during the probe on Wednesday, claiming that essential face masks were kept in locked boxes and limited to one per shift.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation secretary Annie Butler said workers had detailed 'incredible breaches' of infection control.

'We had members tell us they could only use one glove rather than two,' Ms Butler said during aged care royal commission hearings.

'Members [have been] told they had to reuse equipment, put it in collective plastic bags.'

Health Workers Union Victorian secretary Diana Asmar estimates 1,000 of their members in the state had caught the virus.

Poor staffing ratios, a lack of PPE and the growing death toll had left workers feeling like they were 'at the bottom of the Titanic', she said.

Some facilities were accused of failing to provide soap.

Medical staff and a health commander are seen at an aged care facility in Melbourne in July

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation boss Annie Butler (pictured) told the commission registered nurses transferred from hospitals to aged care homes during the crisis and were shocked by the 'abject neglect' and 'horrific circumstances'

Ms Butler told the commission registered nurses transferred from hospitals to aged care homes during the crisis and were shocked by the 'abject neglect' and 'horrific circumstances'.

The hearing also heard staff weren't given enough time to complete tasks and often spent their days off caring for elderly residents. 

Leading aged care expert Professor Joseph Ibrahim said residents were being treated as second-class citizens and hundreds more would die prematurely during the pandemic.

He said aged home residents made up more than 68 per cent of the nation's virus deaths, putting Australia among the worst few nations globally.

'There's a lack of urgency. There's an attitude of futility which leads to an absence of action,' he said.

Former chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the sector had received adequate PPE, support and advice from the government and the 68 per cent figure was a 'meaningless statistic'.

'I would like to strongly reject the assertion that somehow the proportion of an extraordinary low death rate has any pejorative meaning,' he said.

He said 0.1 per cent of Australia's aged care residents had died from the virus, compared to five per cent in the UK, some 20,000 people. 

The probe also revealed that staff weren't given enough time to complete tasks and often spent their days off caring for elderly residents (pictured, a resident from Epping Gardens in Melbourne is taken to hospital)

North Rockhampton Nursing Centre in Queensland on May 16. The centre went into lockdown after a nurse tested positive to coronavirus

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said is it the responsibility of providers to ensure the centres are properly staffed.

'Since March this year, the Government has additionally provided more than $850 million in measures to support and protect senior Australians in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,' she said.  

Assisting commissioner Peter Rozen, QC, asked Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson why it took four days for the virus outbreak at St Basil's Home for the Aged in Victoria to be reported to the government.

Ms Anderson responded: 'In hindsight, that would have appeared to be something that we should have done.'

St Basil's was home to one of the state's biggest outbreaks in the state and has been linked to 124 cases and 12 deaths. 

The Aged Care Quality Commission issued 104 aged care facilities with non compliance notices between March and May. 

A string of centres were operating in NSW, including the coronavirus-riddled Newmarch House which failed to meet clinical care and infection control, The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

The Aged Care Quality Commission issued 104 aged care facilities with non compliance notices between March and May (pictured, a resident in  Melbourne is taken to hospital)

The facility in western Sydney has been one of the state's deadliest outbreaks, with 17 residents dying and more than 30 cases in staff. 

Other homes including Bupa Aged Care Dural and Uniting Hawkesbury Richmond were given notices about infection control.

The Dural home said all staff had since had infection control training and a spokesperson for Uniting said a plan had been placed for better hygiene and outbreak control.

'We have worked hard to implement a continuous improvement plan and are making significant progress. We have engaged regularly with residents and their loved ones on this plan,' a United spokesperson said. 

Bolton Clarke aged care facility in Pinjarra Hills, Brisbane, on August 1 after a Queensland woman tested positive to COVID-19

It comes after almost 30 nursing homes were told to make 'significant improvements' and 14 in New South Wales alone did not meet personal or clinical care standards. 

Another seven facilities in NSW were found to not have proper infection control procedures in place during the outbreak of the deadly virus. 

Mr Rozen said the sector was not prepared for the pandemic. 

'While there was undoubtedly a great deal done to prepare the Australian health sector more generally for the pandemic, the evidence will reveal that neither the Commonwealth Department of Health nor the aged care regulator developed a COVID-19 plan specifically for the aged care sector,' he said on Monday. 

'The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly exposed all of the flaws of the aged care sector.

'To put it very directly, older people are not less deserving of care because they are old.'