COVID-19 update 338 | 30/01/2022
Dear colleagues,
- Wellbeing during COVID-19
- PPE and fit testing
- Working from home
Today there are 8580 reported new cases of COVID-19 in Queensland.
Wellbeing during COVID-19
The Metro North Culture and Wellbeing team is presenting 20-minute interactive sessions, on how we can support ourselves, each other, and our community by building a culture of resilience.
The first session, 60-second farewell – go home better in a minute, will be hosted tomorrow, Monday 31 January at 10am. You can find out how to join the session and a list of all future ones on the wellbeing extranet.
Helpful links from the wellbeing vidcast:
- The King’s Fund (UK) – Responding to stress experienced by hospital staff working with COVID-19
- Values in Action QHEPS page
- Metro North wellbeing extranet page
PPE and fit testing
Metro North Health is committed to prioritising fit testing for all our frontline staff. Please check the fit testing schedule on the extranet for local information.
The National Guideline recommends that fit checking must be done at the start of every shift to ensure you have a good seal for fit tested staff. In an emergent situation, if your fitted mask cannot be located, please escalate to your team leader/hospital coordinator. A fit checked P2/N95 can be worn, as a last resort, until you are fit tested. You should not participate in aerosol generating procedures if you are not wearing a fit tested mask.
Have you been fit tested at a different HHS to where you currently work? You might not need to be fit tested again, if:
- you have your fit testing report
- you were fit tested in the past 12 months
- your facial features have not changed significantly
- you were fit tested to a mask available in your current HHS.
You can show your line manager a copy of your fit test report and have this information recorded in the system. You don’t need to have another fit test.
If you have any concerns about fit testing, you can submit them via the fit testing feedback portal. Urgent issues should be escalated to your supervisor and local EOC for resolution.
Working from home
As a reminder, the current working from home arrangements will be extended until Sunday 13 February.
This allows us to minimise the number of people at our facilities while we manage the current COVID surge.
There are working from home and remote access resources on the working virtually section of the extranet. If you have specific questions about accessing your work systems while working from home, you can email DigitalMetroNorth@health.qld.gov.au.
For IT support, please contact eHealth via 1800 198 175 or through the Service Now portal.
Kind regards,
Mark Butterworth
Metro North Health Incident Controller
_____________________________________________________________________
Current Metro North Health tier activated – Tier 4
Helpful links
- Register your positive RAT result
- 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 | ||||||
| 150 | 3 | 5 | 1196 | 16 | 7 | 988 | |
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 | 3 | 85 | 0 | 6 | |
*As at the above date
**Metro North Health has 16 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.