COVID-19 update 315 | 08/01/2022
Louise O’Riordan Metro North Health Incident Controller
Dear Colleagues,
For those of us lucky to be enjoying a weekend, I hope you are relaxing and staying safe. And for those of us still working, thank you!
Please be cognisant of your movements as cases continue to climb and of keeping yourself as safe as possible at this time, as well as ensuring you get your COVID-19 booster if you haven’t already.
Our focus as a HHS is now on emergency care and clinical care in core areas of our service, as well as vaccination and COVID-19 testing.
Return to work for staff
Yesterday I spoke about new return to work guidelines for staff in my IC message. I’d like to recap that staff, who are asymptomatic positive cases OR close contacts who return a negative RAT result on day 6, should both return to work on day 8.
We want to ensure we maximise our workforce at this crucial time while ensuring we keep each other and our patients safe
If you continue to have symptoms or return a positive result, please continue to isolate until you meet the outlined return-to-work requirements. Don’t forget to keep your line manager in the loop about your current situation, including if you become a positive case, to help us manage staffing required in certain areas.
We are looking at quarantine requirements for our critical workforce areas and may have additional options available soon, which we will update you on.
If you have questions about returning to work, our staff hotline has been set up and will run 8am – 5pm, 7 days a week. The hotline is here to help you navigate any queries, so please reach out if you need on 07 3646 5500.
Staff Swab Collection and RATs
Staff swab collection services are open this weekend across our clinics, and these clinics will also have RATs available (one per staff member) if required instead of a PCR test.
In addition to the collection site below, RATS will also be available at the Brighton Health Campus, Wellness Hub (Cnr Nineteenth Ave and Hornibrook Hwy) from Monday.
Staff swab collection sites include:
- RBWH Education Centre
- TPCH located in Outpatients B
- Caboolture Hospital staff carpark
Stay safe and don’t forget your social distancing and hand hygiene!
Staff should also refer to Metro North’s COVID page on the extranet for the latest COVID related information:
Metro North Hospital and Health Service (MNHHS)
COVID-19 – Extranet (health.qld.gov.au)
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through this together
Kind regards,
Louise O’Riordan
Metro North Health Incident Controller
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Current Metro North Health tier activated – Tier 3
Helpful links
- Upload evidence of your vaccine
- Qld Health contact tracing list
- Register for your vaccine
- Qld Health general COVID-19 page
- Metro North COVID-19 extranet
- COVID vidcast recordings on QHEPS
Metro North HHS – overview of cases*
| Patients managed by HHS | Fever clinics | ||||||
| Total in-patients | Virtual ward/ HITH/ similar | Deaths** | No. of clinics | Presentations | |||
| Total | ICU patients | Total^ | |||||
| ICU not ventilated | ICU ventilated | ||||||
| 60 | 2 | 1 | 517 | 0 | 6 | 2088 | |
Norfolk Island – overview of cases****
| Patients managed by HHS | Close Contacts in quarantine | ||||||
| Total in-patients | Virtual ward/ HITH/ similar | Total cases including recovered | Deaths | ||||
| Total | ICU patients | ||||||
| ICU not ventilated | ICU ventilated | ||||||
| 37 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 120 | |
*As at the above date
**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.
**** As part of an Intergovernmental Agreement, from 1 January 2022 Metro North Health is providing a number of health support services to Norfolk Island. This includes advice and support to staff on island in terms of managing COVID patients. The numbers in this section of the table refer to COVID patients who remain on Norfolk Island and are receiving direct care by staff on Norfolk Island.