Ann Maree Turner: Mum picks up Covid at Liverpool Hospital

A patient who caught Covid inside Liverpool Hospital has spoken of the mental and physical toll and is now calling for answers from health bosses.

A mother-of-four who caught Covid inside Liverpool Hospital is demanding answers as she reveals the physical and mental toll the disease has had.

Ann Maree Turner, 36, from Fairfield West, was admitted to Liverpool Hospital in early September after severe complications with a gastric sleeve she had received a year earlier.

When she arrived to hospital she said her body had nearly shut down and in the hours and days that followed she almost lost her life.

After a few weeks in hospital, Ms Turner was becoming progressively healthier, and was told she would be transferred to another hospital to have a reversal surgery.

Liverpool Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

But on September 18, Ms Turner’s worst fears came true when she was informed she had tested positive to Covid.

Liverpool Hospital is currently in the midst of a second Covid outbreak on its wards, with four exposure sites in orthopaedics, renal, neurology and geriatrics, according to a spokesperson at Southwest Sydney Local Health District.

There are now a total of 34 Covid cases linked to the four exposure sites, including 29 patients and 5 staff, the spokesperson confirmed.

Two patients have since died, including a patient in his 60s who died on Monday (September 27) and a woman in her 90s who died yesterday (September 28). Both were unvaccinated and had other comorbidities.

In July this year, 11 deaths were linked to another outbreak at Liverpool Hospital which spread in the geriatric and neurology wards.

Ms Turner, who is now in the hospital’s Covid ward, said she was distraught when she found out she had contracted the disease.

Although she is doing well at the moment, she said she is still worried she might deteriorate.

“I wanted to scream, yell, cry,” she said of being told.

Mother-of-four Ann Maree Turner who is currently in Liverpool Hospital with Covid after contracting it there. Picture: Supplied

“I was a mess. I was crying … I’m trying to get hold of family to try to have support because he just walked in at 5am and announced it.

“Obviously everyone was still asleep so I had to sit there and think about this s*** on my own.

“Then I was crying to my mum, saying ‘I don’t want to die’. And it still plays with me.

“They should never have put me in a shared room because of how weak my immune system was.”

Ms Turner will need to spend another two-and-a-half weeks at Liverpool Hospital before she can be transferred elsewhere for another surgery, unable to see her kids or her husband.

Her sister Lisa Ramsay said she was “ropeable” when she found out her sister had tested positive for Covid while in hospital, and said she wants answers.

“I was fuming,” Ms Ramsay said.

Lisa Ramsay. Picture: Supplied

“I called them and I just told them I wanted answers. I want to know how that happened … I wanted answers. I still want answers.

“I’m more cranky that somebody with Covid has been put in the ward with patients who don’t have an immune system.”

Ms Ramsay said she was also initially afraid her sister might die from Covid because her immune system was still too weak to fight the virus.

“I was concerned for her health. I knew what she was like, that she was very weak. We almost lost her (in the weeks beforehand).

“Because of how weak she was, I thought she might not be able to fight the disease off.”

She added the fear of catching Covid would stop her from seeking medical treatment in a hospital.

A spokesperson for South Western Sydney Local Health Districts said Liverpool Hospital was going everything it could to protect patients from Covid.

“Liverpool Hospital is taking every measure to protect its patients and staff from COVID-19 during the pandemic. The Delta strain is highly contagious and poses an added risk to everyone in the community,” the spokesperson said.

“The nature of the Delta strain means some COVID-19 patients may initially return a negative result only to test positive at a later date.

“All non-COVID-19 patients presenting to Liverpool Hospital are tested for COVID-19 on admission, and additionally at day two and day five of their admission to limit the risk of transmission.

“There are strict infection control protocols and procedures in place to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection control to patients and staff, which includes regular testing of staff and the use of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.

“The hospital is undertaking contact tracing to determine the source of infection as well as genomic sequencing to establish if the cases are linked.

“Nearly all staff in Liverpool Hospital have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine are fully vaccinated (97 per cent). It should be noted that it is unlikely any health system will achieve 100 per cent vaccination, due to workforce inflows and outflows.

The spokesperson said 19 staff remained in isolation in relation following the latest Covid outbreak.