St Vincent’s Private told to prepare for Covid-positive aged-care patients

Frustrated and overstretched staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital have been warned that Covid-positive aged-care residents could be brought in from Monday.

Residential aged care residents will be moved to private hospitals across Sydney as pressure on the healthcare sector continues to escalate.

Frustrated and overstretched staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital said they were told on Thursday that they would be admitting residential aged care residents at their hospital from “multiple areas”.

A screenshot from the video sent to St Vincent’s Private Hospital staff from chief executive Tim Daniel.

It was not made clear where the residents would be coming from, including if any would be from Sydney’s 12 at-risk local government areas.

Sources aware of the operation said authorities had lost faith in the aged care operators’ abilities to handle Covid patients at their facilities.

It is understood the new arrivals could include Covid-positive patients — a move which is being fiercely resisted by management.

A staff member who spoke to The Saturday Telegraph anonymously said the patients were currently being referred to as “Scovid cases”, indicating they had suspected Covid.

“Staff are nervous because they’ve fought 18 months to keep Covid out of SVPH,” the staff member said,

“We’ve been taking up public patients from St Vincent’s Public next door to free up their beds in the ICU.”

On Friday, a letter sent to staff, seen by the Telegraph, said beds were being held on standby for Monday, August 23, to accommodate the arrival of aged care residents.

A video from chief executive Tim Daniel was also sent to all staff reiterating the message.

“It’s very much a changing environment for us all following the announcement 24 hours ago from the NSW Ministry of Health that St Vincent’s Private Hospital has been chosen as one of 19 critical operators,” he said.

“We need to provide and stand up some accommodation if required for aged-care residents, and also free up some staff from other areas of our hospital.

“Keep coming to work every day, keep doing what you do best.”

SVPH spokesman David Faktor said the hospital could not confirm the number of patients expected or whether they would be Covid-positive.

“At present we are not aware of the number or the status of the patients we will be receiving next week, but we are eager to help and are well prepared for any eventuality,” Mr Faktor said.

NSW Health has been contacted for comment.