A major aged care provider in Western Australia and New South Wales has defended the sector's lockdown of nursing homes in the face of criticism from the highest levels, saying operators had to move quickly to keep residents alive.

Key points: Providers say they had little choice but to implement lockdowns

Providers say they had little choice but to implement lockdowns The PM and WA Premier have urged facilities to ease restrictions on visitors

The PM and WA Premier have urged facilities to ease restrictions on visitors Seniors' rights group Advocare says it is fielding many complaints

The sector has been under enormous pressure, with WA Premier Mark McGowan and Prime Minister Scott Morrison both criticising the moves to exclude all visitors as excessive.

Graeme Prior, whose company Hall & Prior runs 26 facilities across the two states, said COVID-19 had been extremely stressful for the industry and locking down facilities a month ago was the "right decision".

"In 25 years, this by far the most challenging thing we have faced … how we keep our residents safe and alive." Mr Prior said.

"No-one understood it [COVID-19], so we were dealing with a foreign enemy.

"They are extremely vulnerable people — they come to us for care, they come to us to live, they don't come to us to be infected."

Graeme Prior said aged care providers had to make a quick decision to protect vulnerable residents. ( ABC News: Jon Sambell )

Mr Prior, who is also the president of the Toronto-based International Federation on Ageing, said the sector was used to challenges like the flu season, but that it had little choice but to limit visitors when the coronavirus hit.

"COVID came in unannounced," he said.

"The authorities didn't know what was going on initially.

"We have to be able to control our environment."

Single case in home 'chilling'

Mr Prior said the company had a case of coronavirus at one of its NSW facilities, but thankfully the man had survived.

"It was the most chilling thing I have been through in my time in care," he said.

"We were working closely with health authorities, they were just tremendous and together we got through it.

"But controlling the environment was paramount to his survival."

Although Mr Prior has confirmed his network of facilities will lift its lockdowns soon, other major providers of aged care are resisting.

Patricia Sparrow of the group, Aged & Community Services Australia, said they believed preventative lockdowns were the only way to guarantee residents' safety.

"Our members are 100 per cent focussed on keeping people safe and for many of them, they have made an assessment that the best way they can achieve that is by going further than what the Commonwealth and states have recommended," she said.

Residents at St Luke's residential home in Subiaco hold up messages to their families from the facility's balcony. ( ABC News: Jon Sambell )

Leaders urge more compassion

The situation prompted Mr McGowan to come out strongly today against the lockdowns, echoing sentiments by Mr Morrison earlier this week.

"A lot of retirement villages, or aged care homes, are going far beyond what was recommended by the Government," he told ABC Radio Perth.

"They're locking family members out of visiting and that is not right and that is not what the guidelines say."

Mr McGowan said family members should be allowed to visit as long as guidelines were followed.

WA COVID-19 snapshot Confirmed cases so far: 662

Confirmed cases so far: 662 Recovered: 650

Recovered: 650 Deaths: 9

Deaths: 9 Total tests: 395,402 Latest information from the WA Health Department





"What some of these retirement homes are doing at the moment is frankly wrong," Mr McGowan said.

He speculated it was as a result of an "over-abundance of caution" due to a number of deaths at aged care facilities in New South Wales.

"But that's affecting the mental health of older people, many of whom live to see their children or their grandchildren," he said.

Window offers access to loved ones

Elizabeth Pell has been visiting her mother, Loreto, every day at her nursing home in the Perth suburb of Mosman Park since the lockdown in mid-March.

The pair have tried to communicate through a window, known as a "window of love" set up by the operator, Hall & Prior, to ease the distress being caused by the restrictions.

Elizabeth Pell visits her mother, Loreto, every day at the 'window of love' at her Perth nursing home. ( ABC News: Claire Moodie )

Fighting back tears, Ms Pell said it had been a difficult time for both her and her 83-year-old mother, who has dementia.

"I would like to go in and hug her, but I know for safety reasons it's for the best," Ms Pell said.

"I think with what's happening in the world, for her health and wellbeing, it's the best place for her to be.

"I'm very grateful that I can see her every day."

Complaints rising as lockdowns drag on

Other families have been relying on technology to stay in contact.

Jan Laing talked to her brother, 72-year-old Geoff, on social media twice a week, but said she missed being able to visit him face-to-face and help with his lunch.

"I accept the reason for [the lockdown]," she said. "Last year, we had a flu outbreak and we couldn't visit then.

"I'm fully aware of the consequences if it [coronavirus] gets in there."

Jan Laing hasn't been able to see her brother Geoff, who is in aged care, for a month due to the COVID lockdown. ( ABC News: Jon Sambell )

But Diedre Timms of seniors' rights group Advocare said she was receiving complaints from families about the blanket lockdowns.

"We actually had a complaint from a family member who wanted to see their other family member who was in palliative care and they were told when that person went into a coma they could see them," she said.

"I guess what we need to be reminded of is that [it] wasn't that long ago that the royal commission into aged care quality and safety demonstrated that not all residential facilities are the same, not all of them have great practise."

Easing of lockdown coming

Ms Timms called on operators to reconsider their bans on visitors.

"Now I know we need to keep older people safe and everybody is doing their best under the pandemic circumstances, but that doesn't mean that they need to be completely excluded.

"It means that we need to find safe ways. Maybe facilities need additional resources to actually be able to do that."

For Phil Davidson, whose mother is in an aged care home in Gosnells, the decision to ban visitors is upsetting.

Mr Davidson told ABC Radio Perth that the policy would affect the mental health of his mother who has Alzheimer's disease.

"My mum needs to see a family member every day, she needs someone to hold her hand, give her a hug and the aged care facility is suggesting we do this through a window, it's ridiculous," Mr Davidson said.

"I'm more than willing to wear any personal protective equipment to go see my mum."

Mr Prior said 99 per cent of families with relatives at his facilities had been comfortable with the lockdown, but that he respected and understood the concerns from the state and federal governments.

"Let's gently end the lockdown over the next, very short period of time," Mr Prior said.

"The beauty of this is that it has heightened the level of awareness of viruses of any description.

"COVID has made a permanent mark on the aged care sector."