Tami Photinos, Executive Director, The Prince Charles Hospital
As you may have seen from yesterday’s Metro North Incident Controller message, we have again moved to Tier 3 due to the increase in the number of staff who are away from the workplace due to having COVID-19 or being a close contact.
At present, TPCH has an increasing number of staff who are furloughed and we are working with impacted areas to ensure they can continue to deliver critical services.
Tier 3 requirements
As part of Tier 3, we are required to move to virtual outpatient appointments where possible, implement virtual meetings and training, and postpone non-essential meetings.
There are no volunteers or consumers permitted on site, however visitor restrictions remain unchanged. The current Health Direction allows two fully vaccinated visitors per patient, with some exceptions in the most high-risk areas of a hospital including the emergency department and intensive care. Unvaccinated visitors who do not meet the hospital entry criteria will still need to apply for hospital entry.
Please read yesterday’s Metro North Incident Controller message for more details on other requirements of Tier 3.
PPE requirements and masks
Metro North remains in the high risk category of the PPE guidelines. This means that staff in clinical areas must wear a P2/N95 mask and protective eyewear, and staff in non-clinical areas must wear a surgical mask at minimum.
A reminder that staff need to wear masks to and from their vehicles. It has been reported that groups of staff have been walking together up to the hospital from their vehicles as well as having large lunch gatherings while wearing no masks. These practices are unsafe and impact on staff and community transmission.
Please make the necessary arrangements in your local work area to ensure that staff are socially distanced (1.5m) when taking meals breaks. This may mean staggering staff meal breaks, or eating meals in a different location.
Thank you for your support. Please stay safe.
Tami Photinos
Executive Director