It’s been a busy last week at Western Health and one that in all likelihood will reflect what the next few months will be like. We have seen increasing numbers of our community attend our emergency departments for care and there is an increased demand for admission to our hospital beds. It feels like the demand for inpatient and emergency care is greater than our capacity and we are having discussions about how we can ensure multidisciplinary team communication and discharge planning is as seamless as possible to ensure all patients can access the care they need in a timely manner.
Coupled with this, it is really pleasing that our outpatient services continue to reform to provide care to more and more members of our community – whether that be via telephone, video hook up or face to face. We are aware that across many communities screening and assessment for diseases including cancer has been greatly reduced this last four months and that’s very concerning for all of us. Early identification of clinical conditions generally results in early interventions and potentially better outcomes for our patients, so it is a focus for Western Health going forward.
Whilst we focus on reform and Best Care internally at Western Health, we monitor the presence of COVID-19 in our community and have seen the examples of outbreaks including several temporary school closures that we anticipated would be part of life over the next 6 to 12 months and onwards. That is why we want to continue to ensure you know how to keep yourself and your families safe. There will be several webinars and group forums led by Dr Marion Kainer in the next fortnight for both clinical and non-clinical staff that will give you an up-to-date summary of everything we know about COVID-19 and reminders on how to stay safe.
Finally, we have some important clinical updates in today’s bulletin, including version five of Western Health’s PPE guidelines.
Thanks for reading.
Regards
Natasha
COVID-19 Daily Summary
- Respiratory Assessment Clinic presentations yesterday: Sunshine – 74; Sunbury – 68
- Numbers of individuals tested for COVID-19 at Western Health to date: 13,844
- Numbers of individuals tested positive to date: 126
- Numbers of current inpatients with COVID-19: 0
COVID-19 – Next Phase
As Western Health continues to review its approach and preparedness to manage the ongoing risk of COVID-19 in both our internal and external environment, we have developed some guidance and principles to make it as easy as possible for staff to evaluate their work spaces and implement a range of strategies to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
A new QRG which details this including checklists and links to signage and resources can be found here.
Updated PPE guidelines
Today we are releasing version 5 of the Western Health COVID-19 PPE guidelines in line with DHHS guidelines.
PPE stock during this pandemic has fluctuated and we will continue to monitor the situation closely. Today, we will be ceasing the collection of used gowns and masks. We will continue to investigate ways to safely reuse PPE should supply become further constrained, however as there are not any reprocessing methods currently available, you can now dispose of any unsoiled gowns and masks that you had stored.
Similar to case definition updates, changes within this version of the PPE guidelines have been highlighted in yellow to assist you.
In conjunction to the guidelines, please find a link to a one-page PPE Tiers poster.
Please share these new guidelines and accompanying resources with your colleagues.
De-isolation of suspected COVID-19 patients
As we continue to move towards a unit-led COVID-19 de-isolation process, a reminder that support resources for this process, including instructional videos, the De-isolation Guideline and the EMR Quick Reference Guide are available on the coronavirus site in Clinical Guidelines/COVID-19 Patient Management.
We have commenced our targeted training with General Medicine so from this week please continue to follow the De-isolation Guideline, then the steps below.
For suspected COVID-19 patients under consideration for de-isolation in the General Medicine Unit only:
- In hours (8am-4pm, Monday-Friday) please call Switchboard on 8345 6666 to contact the:
- General Internal Medicine (GIM) Senior Medical Registrar at Sunshine Hospital for Sunshine-based GIM inpatients
- General Internal Medicine (GIM) Senior Medical Registrar at Footscray Hospital for Footscray-based GIM inpatients
- For all other times, please follow the steps below
For all other suspected COVID-19 patients under consideration for de-isolation:
- In hours (8am – 4pm, Monday-Friday and 9.30am – 5.30pm Saturday-Sunday) please call the De-isolation HMO via Switchboard on 8345 6666
- For all other times, if there is an urgent requirement, please contact the AHA via Switchboard for further guidance.
Before contacting the De-isolation HMO or GIM Senior Registrar it is essential that all medical staff continue to thoroughly check for Pathology results in the EMR, as some patients may be awaiting outstanding test results. For this reason, all staff are asked to please check both the results review and the orders page in the EMR.
In addition staff should be able to advise the De-isolation HMO or GIM Senior Registrar:
- 1. Risk status of patient (High/Low)
- Day of illness that COVID-19 test(s) were taken
- Whether Aerosol Generating Procedures (AGP) are currently required
Thank you for your continued support.