NIHRACS has developed a COVID-19 Response Plan to guide our services in response to different levels of community transmission of the COVID-19 virus, in line with other Health Services across Australia.
There are 5 tiers of response and these are driven by one or more of the following factors:
- Staffing levels at NIHRACS
- Community transmission levels
- Hospitalisation levels
- Capacity of various areas within NIHRACS to function safely
As of 28 April, we have moved to Tier 3, driven by the reduced level of available essential staff and a rise in transmission rates.
This means changes to our model of health-care delivery with a greater use of non face to face care services for outpatients.
It’s very important to understand that we are still open, we are not locked-down, we are just having to deliver services via telephone services primarily as staff have to work from home. Urgent cases will still receive face to face services but we ask that you understand if we offer a different way of providing your health care services during this period. We will provide regular updates on the situation. The tiered response is reviewed twice per week by NIHRACS.
Please remember the key preventative measures you can do, they really do make a big difference:
- Stay home if you have COVID-19 symptoms and do a test
- If positive it is mandatory to call NIHRACS on 22091
- Practice good hand hygiene
- Keep a good distance from others and wear a mask if you can’t physically distance from others
- Sneeze/cough into your arm or tissue
- Be vaccinated
