Page 1195 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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For women who are admitted for maternity or birthing-related care, two support people can be present. Arrangements should be planned with the relevant midwifery and obstetric staff during antenatal care. As has been the case over recent weeks, if women need specific arrangements to be made for compassionate or practical reasons, they should discuss this with staff.
The decision to restrict visitors to our health services was a difficult but important one to make, ensuring that we are able to protect the health and safety of patients, staff and their loved ones. We know that this has been a difficult time for patients who want to be with their families and loved ones during their stay at hospital and I thank the community for their patience and understanding during this challenging period.
Staff across our health facilities have been working incredibly hard to keep our community safe, and the careful ongoing management of visitor access to Canberra’s health facilities is still required to ensure that staff, patients and the broader community are protected from the potential transmission of COVID-19.
The policy has been developed in close consultation with clinical experts and health care consumers. Social distancing principles will still apply to all carers and visitors, and health providers will continue to record information about those entering hospitals, to assist with future contact tracing if required.
This is also a good opportunity to remind Canberrans that they should not visit a health facility if they are unwell—other than for treatment, obviously—or if they have travelled overseas in the last 14 days or have been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case in the last 14 days.
Madam Speaker, the ACT has recently joined other jurisdictions in providing support and care to Australians returning from overseas. On Friday, 15 May 2020, the ACT received one repatriated flight from India with 208 Australian citizens and permanent residents. The ACT government, through the public health emergency coordination centre, PHECC, planned, prepared and executed the arrival, support, screening and quarantining of the repatriated Australians.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the many ACT and commonwealth government partners who collaborated in this endeavour, including ACT Policing and the Australian Federal Police, Border Force, Transport Canberra, the ACT Ambulance Service, the VisitCanberra team, Canberra Airport and Canberra Health Services.
Arrivals were accommodated in serviced apartments, and services provided included catering, transport to the hotels, fact sheets for guests, and wellbeing services. Transportation was also provided to several guests who required non-COVID related medical appointments.
Voluntary tests of quarantined guests were conducted on Tuesday, 26 May 2020, with no positive COVID-19 results returned from approximately 170 tests. The guests were released from quarantine from 11.59 pm on Friday, 29 May 2020 and permitted to return home at their own expense.
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