Message from the Metro North Health Incident Controller – COVID-19 update 374 | 22/03/2022
Dear colleagues,
- Move to Tier 3
- COVID HR resources
- PPE requirements
Today there are 8881 new reported cases of COVID-19 in Queensland.
Move to Tier 3
We have seen a significant increase in the number of staff who are away from the workplace due to having COVID or being a close contact. This is putting pressure on our ability to deliver some services.
From 7am tomorrow (Wednesday 23 March 2022) we will move to Tier 3 to allow us to focus on critical service delivery.
This includes:
- All virtual outpatient appointments
- Urgent face-to-face appointments only where virtual not clinically appropriate
- All OPD patients must wear masks in waiting rooms
- Outsource activity as able
- Implement alternate models of care based on staffing availability
- Only urgent elective surgery and procedures to deploy staff to COVID-related care
- Repurpose surgical wards to medical wards as demand dictates
- Utilise STARS for planned care
- Virtual meetings only
- Suspension of non-essential meetings
- No face-to-face training
- Essential training delivered virtually
- No visitors or consumers engaged on site
- Students onsite must be fully vaccinated
- Minimise staff movement within wards and across facilities
COVID HR resources
Information for staff who test positive or who are close contacts is available on the extranet:
Staff who test positive for COVID need to isolate for a minimum of seven days. You can leave isolation on Day 8 once symptoms have cleared.
Staff who are close contacts must quarantine for a minimum of seven days (the period restarts with every additional household member who tests positive). On return to work, you must wear a mask (surgical or N95 depending on your work area) for 14 days after exposure and avoid areas where masks are removed such as lunch rooms.
PPE requirements
Masks are still mandatory for:
- Healthcare settings
- Residential aged care facilities
- Disability accommodation
- Correctional facilities
- While waiting for and on public transport
- In taxis and rideshares,
- At airports and on all domestic and international flights.
Metro North remains in the high risk category of the PPE guidelines. Please check the requirements for your type of work. Surgical masks are the minimum requirement for administration and non-clinical areas.
Kind regards,
Alanna Geary
Metro North Health Incident Controller
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Current Metro North Health tier activated – Tier 3
Helpful links
- Register your positive RAT result
- Upload evidence of your vaccine or booster
- Vaccination locations
- 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 | Yesterday | |||||
| ICU not ventilated | ICU ventilated | ||||||
| 39 | 0 | 0 | 543 | 49 | 3 | 245 | |
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 | ||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 127 | 0 | 0 | |
*As at the above date
**Metro North Health has recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** 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.