Tami Photinos, Executive Director, The Prince Charles Hospital

Due to our current surge with increasing numbers of COVID-19 admissions and furloughed staff, additional measures will be implemented over the next 4 weeks as part of Metro North’s current Tier 3 COVID Response.

Additional measures:

• Cancel all non-clinical meetings
• Cease all education, training and non-essential activities
• Only at the elbow education support in clinical areas
• Planned care – only Category 1 can continue for specialty ambulatory care services i.e. cancer care services, dialysis and medical Imaging
• Outpatients – only Category 1 new and Category 1 review i.e. urgent post procedure review
• Cases that do not fit into this category but are deemed urgent or complex or detrimental to patient care outcomes need to be escalated to TPCH Executive Director or TPCH Director Medical Services for approval.

While we are approaching the peak, TPCH is managing increased concurrent inpatient for COVID and Acute Care and has enacted Acute Respiratory and Influenza planning to support patient care and flow. We will advise the relevant areas and include more in my Friday message so all staff are aware.

Boosters

It’s important to keep your COVID-19 vaccinations up-to-date, which means having all boosters you are eligible for to provide an extra layer of protection against COVID-19.

You can get your booster by making an appointment with your GP or local pharmacy.

To record your COVID-19 booster:

• Download your COVID digital certificate from your myGov account
• Go to the COVID-19 Vaccination Hub
• Choose the +Booster Vaccination option
• Add your booster details
• Upload or drag and drop your certificate
• Save

Eligibility for third and fourth dose vaccination includes:

• All Queenslanders aged 16 and over who have had two COVID-19 vaccine doses more than 3 months ago should get a third COVID-19 vaccine dose.
• People aged 50 and over, and those at greater risk of severe illness, are recommended to have a fourth dose (also called a winter dose), from 3 months after the first booster dose.
• People aged 30 to 49 can also get a fourth dose if they choose.
• Even if you’ve had COVID-19, you should still get your boosters after an interval of 3 months.
• Children aged 5 to 15 should get 2 COVID-19 vaccine doses. Boosters are not currently recommended for this age group unless they are immunocompromised.

PPE/Masks

Metro North is still in the high risk PPE category, which means PPE is required in all areas.

A minimum of P2/N95 and protective eyewear is required for clinical areas, and flat surgical masks for non-clinical areas. Please also remember your hand hygiene and social distancing.

Returning COVID-19 impacted staff to work

We still have a large number of TPCH staff who are furloughed due to being COVID-19 positive or a close contact. To allow us to support these impacted staff to return to the workplace, we ask that staff and/or line managers email the name and contact number of the relevant staff member/s to: TPCHContactTracing@health.qld.gov.au.

Important points:

• If a staff member is a close contact, and meets the three Risk Assessment Criteria (below), they must escalate their request to return to work through their line manager, who will then escalate to TPCH Contact Tracing. Staff must not return to the workplace until approval has been granted.

Close Contact – Risk Assessment Criteria

Here are the criteria staff must meet to be considered for approval to return to work:

• No symptoms
• Negative RAT
• No caring responsibilities at home – caring for young children i.e. go home to a positive 0-6 year old who cannot safely isolate or wear a mask

We would like to clarify the process that staff need to follow if they have tested positive or are a close contact, when planning their return to the workplace:

Thank you for your support and please stay safe.

Tami Photinos
Executive Director