Hi everyone,
As I advised last week, we will be resuming our COVID-19 bulletin to provide you with an update on our response every Tuesday and Thursday.
Current situation
Today we have had no new cases in South Australia – a great sign following the record numbers in testing.
In Victoria there have been another 331 cases reported and 19 deaths reported over the past 24 hours. New South Wales has reported 14 new cases as of 8pm last night and Queensland has reported one new case over the past 24 hours.
Over the past two weeks, SA Pathology’s testing has more than doubled with the laboratories handling 6000 tests per day up from 2500 tests per day. SA Pathology has announced it will recruit extra staff to help advise people of their COVID-19 tests results after an IT glitch caused delays last week.
Our RAH clinic has tested 423 people since last Friday.
Incident Management Team (IMT) update
Based on the current situation within South Australia we will remain at CoSTAT 1.
As a service, we are incredibly busy at the moment, and it is important that where possible we enact our patient flow strategies to ensure our patients are being seen at the right place and at the right time. We know that this is best for the patients, but with COVID-19 still a concern we need to also ensure that we are decant ready should we see an increase in cases.
If you have any further suggestions you would like the IMT to consider based upon your experiences, please raise them with your manager to escalate to the IMT.
PPE update
We have good level of PPE stock available, and continue to monitor its usage on a daily basis.
Today, Professor David Shaw has put together a video to provide you with an update on our PPE supplies and answer some of the common questions we’ve received.
If you have any further questions about the D95+ masks, resources can be found through the below link and information about the masks themselves is available from the department’s D95+ Respirator Frequently Asked Questions.Visitor guidelines
You will have seen new visitor posters and signage being introduced across the network from late last week.
The current visitor arrangements are as follows
- inpatients can receive two visitors per day (at the same time)
- emergency department patients can have one visitor (support person)
- outpatient services can only have one visitor (support person)
- children under 16 are not permitted on site.
This applies to all SA Health locations and there is absolute flexibility on compassionate grounds. We are in the process of updating our site screening and visitor tool and will provide it to you shortly.
I appreciate that it can be difficult to keep on top of the current information however we are in a very dynamic situation and things will change quickly as we learn more and respond appropriately.
If you would like to access updated signage to print off for your area visit the COVID-19 staff portal for the latest versions.
Self-isolation reporting
If you are a healthcare worker or another staff member who has close patient contact in a hospital/health care setting and:
- are unwell and are exhibiting symptoms associated with COVID-19; or
- have been tested for COVID-19 and are awaiting results; or
- have returned from interstate or overseas; or
- have had close contact with a positive COVID-19 case; or
- have been advised or directed to self-isolate or be tested for COVID-19
You should not attend work and need to self-report using the self-isolation reporting form.
If you become symptomatic whilst at work, please ensure you immediately report to your line manager and present for COVID-19 testing. Employees must self-report immediately using the self-isolation reporting form.
If you are unwell and unable to work from home, you should access personal sick leave entitlements or leave entitlements.
This form must be resubmitted, should your situation change.
As I have said above it is very important that we remember to maintain physical distancing to ensure that we keep our patients, visitors and staff safe.
And as I always say...‘If not us...then who’
Lesley Dwyer
Chief Executive Officer
Central Adelaide Local Health Network