Gillian Nasato, Acting Executive Director, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
A change again for all of us in the form of a drop back to Tier 2 – Covid Response as of Wednesday 17th at 7am. This includes an adjustment to our required PPE.
P2/N95 and protective eyewear are to be worn when treating patients with COVID-19 or close contacts. These areas include our ETC,ICU, COVID units or wherever COVID Patients are being managed across RBWH.
Flat surgical mask are to be worn in all other areas, including non-clinical areas.
For those services who are assessed as caring for high risk patients such as Cancer Care they may continue to use the current high level PPE ie: P2N95 & eye protection.
Staff may also wish to continue to wear a P2N95 mask with eye wear for their own protection considering the ongoing amount of COVID in our community. There are no issues with supply so feel free to make an informed decision that best supports you and your circumstances.
The message for the MN Incident Controller sets out what activity we can begin to recommence here at RBWH with the obvious challenges with staffing and inpatient bed capacity. Please take the opportunity with your teams to consider how we recommence this work
Thank you for supporting our whole of facility focus on access and flow to ensure that we can meet the demands of all who require our care. Like never before will we need to be thinking about alternatives to admissions, HITH, Rapid Access Clinics and strong discharge planning from the outset.
Unfortunately COVID is not going away however our plans need to shift to how we live and work with COVID in parallel with addressing our normal planned and emergent care.
I do acknowledge the many tough months endured by Team Royal and I remain humbled by the outstanding work you all continue to deliver each day.
Please let me know should you have any questions or concerns to raise as I are here to support you and your teams.
With sincere thanks,
Gill