Albury-Wodonga, Bendigo, Mildura, Goulburn Valley ‘prepared for worst’

Regional Victorian hospitals are preparing for the worst as Covid cases surge across the state, stretching resources to their limits.

Regional Victorian hospitals are under threat as Covid cases continue to spiral out of control and resources are stretched to their limit.

As cases reach record highs, hospitals across the state are expected to be impacted in the coming months.

On Wednesday, the Victorian Government also announced non-urgent elective surgeries in Melbourne and major regional towns would be postponed.

Bendigo Health said its emergency department was already “under strain” due to the increasing presentations of positive cases.

“We expect the number of people requiring hospitalisation with Covid to increase in the coming days,” a spokesperson said.

“It is vital we preserve our ability to care for the most urgent cases and those who need admission to hospital.”

A spokesperson for Bass Coast Health described its situation as “extremely busy” and predicted it would remain the same until at least March.

“Our biggest issue is significant staffing shortfalls,” they said.

“Our staff are working many more hours to try to maintain safe staffing levels and we have redeployed staff from other areas to bolster the workforce in our emergency department and urgent care centre.

“We would never turn people away but we do know that our wait times and time to treatments will be impacted because of the demand and more people may choose not to wait to be seen.”

Mildura Base Public Hospital says it is prepared for more Covid demands. Photo: Supplied.

Mildura Public Base Hospital is coping with demand with 100 ‘at home’ patients also in its care.

“We are prepared for things to get worse,” a spokesperson said.

“We were expecting this to happen, we have always had measures in place to manage this surge so we are tracking okay at the minute, hopefully that will continue.

“We aren’t a streaming hospital so Covid positive patients, if they are having to be cared for within the hospital system, we would stabilise them, look after them and make sure they are ready to be moved and then they would be streamed onto one of the Bendigo or Melbourne facilities.”

Goulburn Valley Health has introduced changes to its visitors policy as cases rise. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Albury Wodonga Health (AWH) said despite increased cases, hospitals in the area were well equipped to deal with the Omicron variant.

Executive director Lucie Shanahan said while there had been an increase in people in hospital, it was not dramatic increase.

“At the moment we have six people admitted to Albury hospital that are Covid positive, but none of those people are requiring intensive care unit level care at this stage which is a really comforting position to be in,” Ms Shanahan said.

“Interestingly, most people are presenting because of other health conditions and other health concerns, and happen to have Covid as well.”

If however hospitalisation does increase, Ms Shanahan said AWH is fully equipped to handle it.

“We are closely monitoring the local COVID situation, and have plans in place to manage demand should hospitalisation numbers increase,” she said.

Ballarat Health Services executive director Ben Kelly told an online press conference on Thursday “strategies are in place” to help meet demand as cases continue to rise.

Meanwhile, Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton has also been forced to make changes due to staff shortages with the testing clinic located outside the hospital set to be closed on Friday.

Visitors restrictions have also been put into place.

“We understand the current testing limitations are frustrating, but our testing staff are working hard to get through a very high volume of tests as quickly as possible,” a hospital statement said.