SA Health axes Covid safeguard while predicting massive new peak
SA Health predicts the state may soon see 5000 new Covid cases per day – but authorities have decided it’s still safe to drop another line of defence.
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SA Health will dump Covid concierges at hospitals across the state this week, despite its own officials predicting a peak of 5000 cases a day next month.
It means visitors to hospitals including rural and regional centres will no longer face any questioning to determine if they are a Covid-19 risk to patients and staff.
The concierges, employed at the start of the pandemic, have also assisted reception staff with security and directions.
The move is understood to have been endorsed by chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier and will mean Covid-risk visitors will be able to wander freely among the sick.
A concierge, who asked not to be named, said the cost saving would be minimal compared to a Covid-19 outbreak affecting patients and clinicians.
The move to cut staff also comes amid record ramping and as public hospitals are under record pressure as factors including a surge in flu cases sees emergency departments regularly operating well beyond official capacity.
SA Health declined to answer a range of questions from The Advertiser, including how many concierges will lose their jobs and the number of state hospitals affected.
They released a statement saying Local Heath Networks are phasing out the program this month.
“Hospitals will continue to provide easy access to surgical masks and hand sanitiser at entry points, and clear information to visitors about not entering if unwell,” SA Health said in a statement.
“We thank South Australians for helping to reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses in our hospitals.”
Covid concierges will remain in place at regional hospitals which are co-located with aged care facilities “for the time being”.
The Royal Adelaide Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre and Noarlunga Hospital have dismissed their concierges while Lyell McEwin, Modbury and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital concierges finish up this week.
Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn said Labor’s management of hospitals “is increasingly chaotic.”
“On one hand Peter Malinauskas is warning South Australians to brace for thousands of extra daily Covid-19 cases, and on the other he’s axing a crucial line of defence at our hospitals to protect the sick and elderly,” she said.
“It beggars belief that Peter Malinauskas would cut basic health checks at our hospitals in the middle of winter, while flu cases are skyrocketing and we are on the verge of a major Covid-19 wave.
“The health system is already straining under pressure and cutting health checks on entry puts our hardworking doctors and nurses at heightened risk.
At the worst possible time, Labor is letting its guard down creating avoidable risk.”
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars said there had been limited benefit from concierges in recent months as nurses had been removed from the work and returned to bedside care.
“The only effective check is a clinical assessment and there is no time or capacity given the volumes,” she said.
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