At least 51 people infected with coronavirus and 211 staff isolating including Frankston Hospital doctors and nurses
Hundreds of front line health staff are either infected with coronavirus or isolating at home after an outbreak at Frankston Hospital. Peninsula Health is investigating how the virus spread.
South East
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Peninsula Health has been hit with a major coronavirus outbreak involving more than 250 staff.
Chief executive Felicity Topp confirmed on Wednesday that 51 staff across Peninsula Health sites were infected with COVID-19 and a further 211 were “furloughed” as a result of contact with the virus.
“Of the 51 staff cases, 40 are nursing staff, with four doctors having tested positive at this point, along with five support staff members and two Allied Health employees,” Ms Topp said.
She said the organisation became aware of a growing number of active cases among staff at Frankston Hospital on Sunday (August 16).
Peninsula Health “responded by calling in external experts to support our response” Ms Topp said.
“We immediately closed a number of wards to admissions and all potentially affected staff and
patients were tested.
“We also started contact tracing to identify anyone else who may have come into contact with an infected person. This process is currently in the final stages.”
“We are still investigating if these cases are the result of increased community transmission of the virus, or if it has been acquired through the hospital.”
Peninsula Health has seven sites across the Mornington Peninsula including Frankston and Rosebud hospitals.
The majority of the infections appear to be at Frankston Hospital.
Ms Topp said since the beginning of the pandemic Peninsula Health had tested 54,981 people, 336 of those testing positive.
“We currently have 48 COVID-19 positive patients in our care, with none of these patients in ICU,” she said.
“We are doing all we can to keep them safe and well.”
The service was also prioritising the importance of using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) correctly.
“PPE is readily available to our staff in all of our services and are doing our utmost to help all staff members do all they can to stay safe.,” Ms Topp said.
“The safety and wellbeing of our staff, our patients and our community is our utmost priority, and we are doing all we can to help stop any further spread of the virus.”