Shine Lawyers have launched a class action against the operators of a NSW aged care home in which 19 residents died during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus spread through western Sydney’s Anglicare-run Newmarch House in April and May 2020, with 37 out of 97 residents testing positive and 19 dying over that period.

A further 34 staff members also caught the disease.

Shine Lawyers say the class action has been filed in the NSW Supreme Court on behalf of 25 people whose relatives died from COVID-19 and allegedly negligent health care at Newmarch House during the pandemic lockdowns.

Shine Lawyers associate Emily Clarke named Anglicare and the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District of NSW Health as defendants in the legal case.

“Death was a sad reality of the pandemic but lives could have been saved at Newmarch House,” Ms Clarke said.

“Residents were being treated in a facility at the home which clearly was not able to care for them properly when they should have been transferred to an actual hospital as quickly as possible,” she said.

“We allege it was both the operators of the home and NSW Health whose failures contributed to these deaths.

“On top of this, the poor communication with family members outside the home caused serious psychological injuries to the group members in this class action.”

Newmarch entered lockdown on March 23, 2020 – before the outbreak spread.

The case is being led by Mark Fahey, whose mother Ann died on May 2, 2020.

She was the 14th Newmarch resident to die from COVID-19.

“I’ll never understand how the situation got as bad as it did. It just seemed like everything they did led to another failing and another life lost,” Mr Fahey said.

“Mum was happy and enjoyed living at Newmarch House and had a lot of life left to live.

“Nothing will bring her back, and we’ll spend the rest of our lives wondering what would’ve happened if they’d managed the outbreak properly.”

During the outbreak, Newmarch implemented the “Hospital in the Home” program in which sick residents were treated onsite rather than being transferred to nearby hospitals.