Aged care executive condemns Scott Morrison’s strategy of ‘pushing through’ Covid crisis

The chief executive of a major aged care provider has slammed the prime minister for suggesting Australians "push through" the Omicron crisis, warning his "exhausted" staff are at breaking point and some residents have been isolated in their rooms for 21 days straight.

Baptistcare chief executive, Charles Moore, penned a damning open letter on Thursday saying his organisation "cannot stay silent" over Morrison's comments.

Earlier this month Scott Morrison explained his government's strategy for dealing with the latest wave of the pandemic, saying: "You have two choices here: you can push through or you can lock down. We're for pushing through."

Moore, who runs 18 aged care facilities across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, said the Omicron variant had only served to exacerbate existing systemic flaws in the "critically underfunded" sector, which were identified in the royal commission but remain unaddressed.

He said his staff were "significantly underpaid" for the work they do and were exhausted, working huge shifts and grappling with shortages that were being compounded by the Omicron variant.

"The simple truth is that we cannot maintain the standard of care our community expects if the situation continues and all we do is 'push through'," he said.

Moore warned current infection control measures required that vaccinated residents were "endlessly" isolated, prevented from having essential visitors.