Dear colleagues,
As at this morning, 19590 staff across Metro North have uploaded evidence of COVID-19 vaccination. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to do this.
The Director-General has provided an update on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, outlining specific circumstances for temporary exemptions.
Under the Health Employee Directive (HED12/21) and HR Policy B70, staff can apply for exemptions for:
- medical contraindications
- religious belief
- other exceptional circumstances.
In addition, temporary exemptions may be granted in these circumstances only:
- employees who are currently pregnant (prior to 11 September) until the first day they return to the workplace after the pregnancy.
- prospective/new employees to whom offers of employment were made prior to the mandate on 11 September 2021, and instead mandate the requirement to have a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination before commencement in the workplace and completion of the vaccination course within 21 days consistent with the quick start process.
- employees currently awaiting the outcome of an exemption request.
- employees currently seeking specialist medical advice to support an exemption on medical grounds.
- employees who have already received a first dose of AstraZeneca by 30 September and who are unable to receive their second dose by 31 October.
In relation to pregnant women, this should be considered very carefully. We are seeing many young unvaccinated pregnant women overseas and interstate who contract COVID and have catastrophic outcomes. The clinical recommendation is absolutely that pregnant women should be vaccinated to protect themselves and their baby.
Anyone who has not received a first dose of COVID vaccine must wear additional PPE in the workplace. Apologies for the confusion about what this constitutes. I want to reiterate David Rosengren’s email on Friday:
- You must use the PPE required within healthcare settings at the next higher level of risk than is the declared community risk level. This means that as south east Queensland has been declared moderate risk, all Metro North staff are required to use PPE in accordance with the high risk guidelines. Specifically:
- within any clinical settings: use P2/N95 respirator, protective eyewear, gown and gloves
- within non clinical settings and/or during activities where no direct patient care is being provided: use surgical mask and protective eyewear.
- For those that have not yet been fit tested for P2/N95, they must:
- organise priority access for fit testing
- continue to wear a standard surgical mask and a protective face shield and be redeployed away from any direct patient care until fit testing has been undertaken.
We will review this each week.
Please note, we are in a period of transition and the information about mandatory vaccination and workplace requirements is not static.
Anyone wanting to apply for an exemption should have already done so. Staff who are currently on leave will be permitted to upload their evidence immediately on return to work or apply for an exemption. The exemptions committee will be meeting throughout this week to work through applications.
All other staff, regardless of role or work location, are required to provide evidence of vaccination. Please upload your evidence into the COVID vaccination hub if you haven’t already done so. Evidence of second doses is required by the end of October.
The guideline for line managers will be available on our COVID-19 extranet. Please use the online version to ensure you’re referring to the most up to date information.
Metro North has been refreshing our COVID-19 response plan. I will hold a vidcast this Friday to talk about our refreshed plan.
Regards,
Jackie Hanson
Acting Chief Executive
Metro North Hospital and Health Service