Dear Colleagues,

Happy Monday!!!!  It is encouraging to see that our planning and efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 are taking effect. New cases of COVID-19 in Queensland are on the decline and our capability to treat and reduce the impact of these new cases improves every day.

Today’s updates include:

• New Aged Care Direction
• Closure of Caboolture and Brighton fever clinics
• Working from Home

New Aged Care Direction (No.2)

Over the weekend, the Queensland Government issued an update to the Aged Care Direction. The most significant update in this Direction is the notice that visitors will no longer be able to access residential aged care facilities from 1 May 2020 if they have not had the 2020 flu vaccination. This may impact some of our health workers who have been unable to access a flu vaccination yet. I encourage you to read the full Direction here. I would also encourage all staff to get their flu vaccination as quickly as possible. The flu vaccination is available in all directorates now and is being offered to frontline staff as a matter of priority. Please ensure that you ascertain when these are available in your facility and take advantage of this offer for free flu vaccination. If for whatever reason you access a flu vaccination outside of the HHS and have been required to pay for it, then you are welcome to present your tax invoice for reimbursement of the vaccine.

Closure of Caboolture and Brighton fever clinics

I am pleased to say that we now have a full suite of GP respiratory clinics across the Metro North region.  These have significant capacity to support community based COVID-19 testing.

As a result, we will be closing the Caboolture Hospital and Brighton Health Campus fever clinics later this week. This will help to ensure resources continue to be used effectively across the health service.

We will continue to encourage patients to visit respiratory clinics for COVID-19 testing if they meet the testing criteria.

Working from Home

To close, I know there are a number of work areas within Metro North where staff are currently working from home. As a result of relatively low community infections in Queensland, the current working from home arrangement will cease on Friday, 1 May 2020. I know there may be some staff or work areas where this is not feasible. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to discuss options with your line manager who will understand the ramifications of your circumstances and that of your work unit.

I know working from home isn’t ideal for everyone, but I have been heartened to see some people make the most of this situation and still ensuring that the responsibilities of their role remain paramount and outputs unchanged.  Well done, it is often not easy working in an alternative environment, and your continued commitment to your role is noted and appreciated.

Those of you with pets will understand how much they lap up all the extra attention. I saw this tweet and found it quite amusing.  

Whether you are working for home or are completely front facing, thank you for working so hard and remaining committed to the cause!! Your hard work is assisting in effectively reducing the negative effects of this ongoing pandemic.

Kindest regards,

Adjunct Professor Alanna Geary

Metro North Health Incident Controller

Metro North HHS – Overview of Cases*

*With effect 1000 20 April 2020
**Metro North has three recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North