The last week at Western Health has felt very much like the weather – there’s been a sudden onset of winter!
Many of you have spoken to me about how the challenges we have navigated for many years regarding timely care for our patients, a high demand for our services and supporting clinical and social complexity within our community are back.
This winter however will be a little different as we will be providing timely and compassionate care to our patients whilst also working in a changing environment where rules and restrictions relating to COVID-19 will shift and our community behaviours and expectations will change.
Some of you will have been following the latest news from our government leaders in regards to planning for the coming weeks and the subsequent easing of restrictions across Victoria. This is in direct response to the public’s restriction compliance so far, high testing rates and low levels of community transmission.
As social restrictions are cautiously being relaxed within our community, Western Health also needs to review our approach and preparedness as we continue to manage the ongoing risk of COVID-19 in both our internal and external environment. This means we will continue to take a considered approach that takes into account the delivery of Best Care for our patients and the community in conjunction with looking out for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and volunteers.
In order to do this, the Western Health Executive team and a number of key experts met earlier this week to discuss the internal restrictions that have been put in place to date and commence planning on a staged approach to easing these. It is important that all staff and volunteers understand that these plans will be subject to change and will be reviewed regularly, based on how Western Health and the broader community is tracking.
To support decision making moving forward we have developed three guiding principles:
1. Staff, patient and visitor safety and wellbeing is paramount
2. Alignment with current government and DHHS guidance
3. The benefits must out-weigh the risk associated with any change
Each restriction and guideline that is currently in place will be evaluated in relation to:
- Capacity to maintain social distancing e.g. 1.5m distance (minimum)
- Length of time persons may be in contact with each other
- Number of persons in any location
- Location and ventilation
- Minimising staff movement across workgroups/locations
In the first phase, some of our priorities will be to re-open the cafe, support the return of clinical students and recommence education programs.
To do this safely, we are also looking at how we can best support our staff and volunteers to maintain high levels of hygiene standards in work spaces, particularly as we plan towards opening up more communal areas over the coming weeks. This will require all of us to work together for it to be both successful and sustainable.
Further information and guidance on COVID-related restrictions are being developed and will be communicated sequentially over the next fortnight. The first such example is included below – Research and Clinical Trials.
At this stage, visitor restrictions will remain unchanged in line with DHHS advice.
Regards
Natasha
COVID-19 Daily Summary
• Respiratory Assessment Clinic presentations yesterday: Sunshine – 50; Sunbury – 40
• Numbers of individuals tested for COVID-19 at Western Health to date: 11,388
• Numbers of individuals tested positive to date: 116
• Numbers of current inpatients with COVID-19: 1
Contingency Update for COVID-19 Interruption to Research and Clinical Trials
We would like to thank everyone who has followed the initial COVID-19 research contingencies issued by Western Health in March. These contingencies still apply and we urge Principal Investigators (PIs) to still use caution and their discretion in the conduct of their research involving human participants during the COVID pandemic. However, we provide the following update in lieu of current Federal and State Government social distancing/lockdown announcements.
Regarding research involving patients that has not been formally suspended at Western Health, the COVID-19 contingencies stipulate that such trials may continue or commence with caution and due appreciation of the potential risks that may be posed to either the patients or staff whilst undertaking such research.
Click here for full details.