Year: 2021

10 December 2021

Following our last update to you on 8 December, we are pleased to let you know that additional COVID-19 testing undertaken yesterday of employees and residents in Taylor House that were identified as contacts, have returned negative results. This is welcome news once again.

At the advice of the local Public Health Unit, we are required to conduct further testing of these residents and employees as a precaution. It is likely that we will get the results of the next tests on Sunday and if so, we will provide another update then.

For now, as a precaution, visitation is still restricted to Taylor House. At a meeting with the Public Health Unit today, they have advised us that this restriction needs to be in place until Tuesday 21 December. We understand that this is a challenging time. Our teams will continue to help residents stay connected to their loves ones wherever possible.

Please note that while visitors are permitted at Arthur Webb Court, Easton Park Units and Sir David Martin, they are not permitted to go between other care homes on our campus for now. Any visits to these care homes must be pre-booked. 

We continue to conduct rapid antigen testing of employees at the start of their shift. This adds an important layer of protection at this time, in addition to our robust screening protocols.

We will provide a further update to you once the results of the additional testing has come through. If anything changes, we will update you sooner.

Thank you again for your support and understanding.

8 December 2021

We want to clarify that there have not been any cases of COVID-19 at Whiddon Redhead.

We sent you a message yesterday as a matter of courtesy, as we wanted to let you know that a Whiddon Easton Park (South West Sydney) employee had tested positive to COVID-19.

We have received feedback that this message may have caused some confusion and we do apologise if this is the case. We want to reassure you that there are no cases of COVID-19 at Whiddon Redhead. The message related to our Easton Park (South West Sydney) aged care home only.

8 December 2021

We are pleased to let you know that the results of the PCR tests taken by employees and residents at Taylor House who were identified as contacts of the employee with COVID-19, are all negative.

While further testing of these employees and residents will be required in the coming days, this is welcome news. We continue to work closely with the local Public Health Unit in managing our response and following their recommendations.

Our COVID-19 response plan is robust and ensures we prioritise the safety of residents and employees. The Public Health Unit has confirmed there is no requirement for employees at Taylor House to self-isolate at this stage and as such all employees not directly impacted can continue to come to work and attend their normal shifts.

Rapid Antigen Testing

We strongly recommend that all employees take a rapid antigen testing  prior to entering the building at the start of their shift. This adds an important layer of protection at this time, in addition to our robust screening protocols. Testing stations will be set up in each care home.

Main kitchen and stores employees will need to take their tests in the testing station outside the kitchen. Laundry and maintenance employees will test at a station set up outside the laundry.

All employees, across all shifts will need to test in the presence of another employee and must show them their test result before being able to enter their workplace.

Other important information

• Whilst the above is good news it is important that you continue to monitor communications to keep well informed. For those of you that may have a secondary employer, in particular in Aged Care we recommend that you speak with your manager at that service about the situation and seek guidance in relation to attending shifts at their service.
• You must not work in more than one site at Easton Park or more than one residential aged care facility
• For now, as previously communicated the Public Health Unit has not recommended employees at Taylor House to self-isolate and as such all employees not directly impacted can continue to come to work and attend their normal shifts.
• Employees are reminded that they must check in upon entry as per the NSW Directive. Please also ensure that you use you HumanForce app to sign in when you arrive at work. This also assists us to monitor who was on site at any given time as part of any contact tracing requirements.
• All employees must wear face shields in all of our care homes
• Employee smoking areas will be designated for each building, which had been in place previously
• This is a timely reminder to all of us to obtain our COVID-19 Booster vaccination if we are eligible to do so. Booster shots are recommended for those who received their second COVID-19 Vaccination 6 months ago. Please send your evidence of your Booster vaccine to payroll@whiddon.com.au

What this update means for Sir David Martin, Arthur Webb Court and Easton Park Units
We are able to welcome back visitors to these care homes and resident activities can now resume. Visitors will only be able to attend one of these care homes as they are not permitted to go between other care homes on our campus for now. Bookings for visits are essential and there are important guidelines that our visitors must follow.

Next steps
We will provide a further update to you once the results of the additional testing has come through, which is likely to be on Friday. If anything changes, we will update you sooner.

We do hope this update provides you with some reassurance and we genuinely thank you for your understanding, support and work you are doing.

8 December 2021

We are pleased to let you know that the results of the PCR tests taken by employees and residents at Taylor House who were identified as contacts of the employee with COVID-19, are all negative.

While further testing of these employees and residents will be required in the coming days, this is welcome news. We continue to work closely with the local Public Health Unit in managing our response and following their recommendations.

We are conducting rapid antigen testing of employees at the start of their shift. This adds an important layer of protection at this time, in addition to our robust screening protocols. As mentioned in our earlier update today, all results since testing was recommenced yesterday, have returned negative results. Again, this is pleasing.

What this means for Taylor House
For now, as a precaution, visitation is still restricted to Taylor House. Our employees will continue to wear full PPE, and robust measures to prevent a potential spread of infection, remain in place. Once we know more about when these may be relaxed, we will let you know.

What this means for Sir David Martin, Arthur Webb Court and Easton Park Units
We are able to welcome back visitors to these care homes and resident activities can now resume. Visitors will only be able to attend one of these care homes as they are not permitted to go between other care homes on our campus for now. Bookings for visits are essential and there are important guidelines to follow, which can be found on our COVID-19 page. We ask visitors to these care homes to have a rapid antigen testing upon arrival. We also ask visitors to remain vigilant and take steps to keep everyone safe. As a reminder, here are the phone numbers to book in your visit:

For Arthur Webb Court: 02 9827 6725
For Easton Park Units: 02 9827 6735
For Sir David Martin: 02 9827 6666

Next steps

We will provide a further update to you once the results of the additional testing has come through, which is likely to be on Friday. If anything changes, we will update you sooner.

We do hope this update provides you with some reassurance and we genuinely thank you for your understanding and support.

8 December 2021

Further to our update yesterday to inform you that a Whiddon Easton Park team member tested positive to COVID-19, at this stage, we are still awaiting COVID-19 PCR test results from a number of employees and residents in Taylor House, where the employee worked.

We have recommenced rapid antigen testing of our employees and all tests so far have returned negative results, which is pleasing. Our robust COVID-19 management plan is in place, with strict protocols implemented to avoid potential spread of the virus across our care homes. Our employees continue to wear full PPE in line with our COVID-19 management plan.

As mentioned in our update yesterday, visitors are not permitted to Whiddon Easton Park for now, as a precaution.

If you have visited Taylor House and are concerned about you or your loved one being identified as a contact, please be reassured that you will be contacted directly through our contact tracing processes. If you do have any symptoms of COVID-19, please get tested.

Our teams are working hard to facilitate video and phone calls wherever possible to help keep residents connected at this time, as we know this is important. We also want to reassure you that our highest priority is to keep everyone in our Whiddon family safe and well, and we are doing all that we can to achieve this.

We will provide a further update to you once we know more information. If we do not have another update to share by this afternoon, we will send you another message around this time tomorrow.

We thank you for your support and understanding.

7 December 

As a matter of courtesy, we wanted to let you know that a Whiddon Easton Park (South West Sydney) employee has tested positive to COVID-19. This does not impact where your loved one lives, but we wanted to let you know of this as you are part of our Whiddon family.

We are working closely with the local Public Health Unit and have activated our COVID-19 response plan to ensure all necessary precautionary measures are implemented. Our robust COVID-19 management plan has meant that we have limited movement across our care homes and strict protocols in place to avoid potential spread of the virus across our care homes. As a precaution, we have closed our Easton Park aged care campus to all visitors for now.

Our highest priority is to keep everyone in our Whiddon family safe and well, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this. We are also committed to keeping our families up-to-date of the situation and will provide a further update once we know more.

We thank you for your understanding and support during this time.

7 December 2021

You would have received a message from us earlier this afternoon advising you that an employee at Whiddon Easton Park has tested positive to COVID-19. Employees working in the area where the employee had worked, which is within Taylor House, have undergone testing, as recommended by the local Public Health Unit. We are currently awaiting these tests results. Rapid antigen tests undertaken onsite by these employees have returned negative results, which is pleasing.

Our robust COVID-19 management plan ensures that we limit movement across our care homes, and that strict protocols in place to avoid potential spread of the virus across our care homes. Our employees continue to wear full PPE in line with our COVID-19 management plan.

Pleasingly, 98% of residents are fully vaccinated across Whiddon Easton Park, and 100% of our employees are fully vaccinated or have a valid exemption. Many employees and residents have also received their booster vaccine.

As mentioned in the earlier message, visitors are not permitted for now at Whiddon Easton Park. Please note that we have extended the opening hours of our 1300 738 388 phone line until 8pm this evening should you have any questions. We do understand that this is a concerning time and want to reassure you that we will keep you up-to-date as we know more.

It is expected that the next update to you will be in the morning. Our 1300 line will reopen tomorrow morning at 8.00am.

We thank you for your understanding and support during this time.

7 December

You would have received a message from us earlier this afternoon advising you that an employee in Taylor House at Whiddon Easton Park has tested positive to COVID-19. Employees working in Straughen, where the employee had worked, have now undergone testing as recommended by the local Public Health Unit. We are currently awaiting these tests results. Rapid antigen tests undertaken onsite by these employees have returned negative results, which is pleasing.

Our robust COVID-19 management plan ensures that we limit movement across our care homes, and that strict protocols in place to avoid potential spread of the virus across our care homes. Our employees continue to wear full PPE in line with our COVID-19 management plan.

Pleasingly, 98% of residents are fully vaccinated across Whiddon Easton Park, and 100% of our employees are fully vaccinated or have a valid exemption. Many employees and residents have also received their booster vaccine.

As mentioned in the earlier message, visitors are not permitted for now. If you have visited Taylor House and are concerned about being a contact, or concerned about your loved one being identified as a contact, please be reassured that you will be contacted directly through our contact tracing processes. If you do have any symptoms of COVID-19, please get tested.

Please note that we have extended the opening hours of our 1300 738 388 phone line until 8pm this evening should you have any questions. We do understand that this is a concerning time and want to reassure you that we will keep you up-to-date as we know more.

It is expected that the next update to you will be in the morning. Our 1300 line will reopen tomorrow morning at 8.00am

We thank you for your understanding and support during this time.

We have been informed that an employee at Taylor House at Whiddon Easton Park has tested positive to COVID-19. As a precaution, residents in Taylor House, where the employee works, are in isolation and employees are wearing full PPE across Whiddon Easton Park.

We are working closely with the local Public Health Unit and have activated our COVID-19 response plan to ensure all necessary precautionary measures are implemented. As an additional precaution at this time, employees at Taylor House have undertaken a rapid antigen test today, which have all produced negative results. Whiddon Easton Park has recommenced rapid antigen testing of employees as a precaution for now. Our COVID-19 response plan is robust and ensures we prioritise the safety of residents and employees. At this stage, the Public Health Unit has not recommended employees at Taylor House to self-isolate and as such all employees not directly impacted can continue to come to work and attend their normal shifts.

Our robust COVID-19 management plan has meant that we have limited movement across our care homes and strict protocols in place to avoid spread of the virus across our care homes. As a precaution, we have closed our aged care campus to all visitors for now.

We understand that this is a challenging time for everyone, but we want you to know that it is our highest priority to keep everyone in our Whiddon family safe and well, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this. We are also committed to keeping you up-to-date of the situation and will provide a further update once we know more. We ask that if you have any concerns to please speak to your manager in the first instance. Please also remember our confidential EAP service contactable 24/7 on 1800 818 728.

This afternoon, we will receive further direction from the Public Health Unit about any additional testing of residents and employees. We will provide another update this afternoon once we know more around this. We also take this opportunity to remind you not to post any information on social media about the situation at Easton Park. It is really important that families and employees have one source of truth to avoid undue confusion or stress.

We have been informed that an employee at Whiddon Easton Park has tested positive to COVID-19. As a precaution, employees are wearing full PPE across Whiddon Easton Park. If you are receiving this message, the employee was not working in the care home where your loved one resides.

We are working closely with the local Public Health Unit and have activated our COVID-19 response plan to ensure all necessary precautionary measures are implemented.

Our robust COVID-19 management plan has meant that we have limited movement across our care homes and strict protocols in place to avoid spread of the virus across our care homes. As a precaution, we have closed our aged care campus to all visitors for now. Whiddon Easton Park will recommence rapid antigen testing of employees as a precaution at this time.

We understand that this is a challenging time for everyone, but we want you to know that it is our highest priority to keep everyone in our family safe and well, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this. We are also committed to keeping you up-to-date of the situation and will provide a further update once we know more.