5 August 2021

Dear colleagues,

Today there are another 16 cases associated with the Indooroopilly cluster. The good news is the majority were in quarantine during their infectious period. The cluster is now 79 cases. Please continue to check the Queensland Health contact tracing website every day for new and updated information.

Metro North remains in Tier 2 of our COVID response plan and moderate risk PPE, with the addition of fever clinic staff and emergency department triage staff wearing N95 masks. All staff must continue to wear masks at all times and check in using the QR codes.

Working from home arrangements will continue through Monday (inclusive) to avoid confusion over the weekend, regardless of whether the lockdown is lifted on Sunday afternoon.

Elective surgical and procedural activity

Metro North has been given approval for STARS to broaden its scope around planned care delivery. As STARS doesn’t have acute inflow, patients can be appropriately pre-screened.

For next week, STARS will continue to focus on delivering category 1 surgical and gastroenterology services as well as urgent or long-wait category 2/3 services. This will be done in the context of current workforce constraints, minimising the workforce impacts on acute facilities, and adjusting the case mix to respond to specific concerns of certain activities. The approach to outpatients will be to support the above services and maximise virtual care where possible.

Staff special vaccination days

With the Brisbane and Moreton Bay Ekka holiday cancellations next week, we have the opportunity to offer additional staff vaccinations on Monday at Kippa Ring and Wednesday at Doomben and STARS. These will be staff only appointments. Family and friends will not be eligible on these days.

Community and Oral Health and Digital North are currently working through a process to create private appointments specifically for Metro North staff appointment. All staff who accept this offer must be registered for a vaccine via the Queensland Health. You’ll need to bring your Metro North identification along with your driver’s licence and Medicare card.

You may have seen in the media conference today the Health Minister announced that additional doses of Pfizer vaccine will be provided to Queensland in the coming weeks. The details around how these doses will be distributed, and whether Metro North will receive any, is not yet available.

Vidcast

Acting CE Jackie Hanson and I will hold a vidcast tomorrow at 10am. You can tune in live. The recording will be available in the afternoon for staff unable to attend in person.

Yesterday’s vidcast recording is available on QHEPS.

Regards,

Louise O’Riordan 
Metro North Incident Controller

Metro North HHS – overview of cases*

*As at 5/08/2021 at 1000
**Metro North Health has four recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North Health.