Frankston Hospital worker alleges she was still told to work after close contact with covid case
A Peninsula Healthcare worker has made shocking allegations, saying she was still told to work after coming into close contact with another worker who had tested positive for coronavirus. It comes as more than 600 staff were stood down after an outbreak.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Frankston Hospital worker alleges she was still told to work after coming into close contact with another worker who had tested positive for coronavirus.
It comes as more than 600 staff were stood down on Wednesday across Victoria’s Peninsula Health service after an outbreak of the virus cases among staff.
Sixy three cases have been linked to Peninsula Health.
The worker, who asked not to be identified, said she was feeling “stressed” and “concerned” after alleging hospital management failed to tell her she had come into close contact with another worker who had tested positive last month.
“I had to find out from another group of workers that this person had tested positive, management didn’t tell me and I was a close contact,” she said.
“I then called infection control and told them I worked with this staff member, I asked if I had to self-isolate, they then asked if I was wearing my mask, I said ‘yes’, they said ‘no it’s fine’.
“I was completely shocked, they told me to keep working.”
She said staff were also not given proper training in infection control and how to use personal protective equipment.
“We’ve had no support on how to properly fit masks, I know mine was too big and then the communication has continually changed from what type of masks to wear,” she said.
“I also think we need better training and support in infection control and several other staff members have felt this way too.”
The Leader has also been sent internal staff documents revealing the hospital’s infection prevention and control manager resigned in July, after only six months in the job.
In the letter, it stated she had left for “personal reasons” to return to Italy.
The worker said the sudden resignation had caused “panic” and “uncertainty” among staff.
“The fact that she resigned in the middle of a pandemic and what has become a huge outbreak has left many of us feeling stressed and sometimes too panicked to come to work,” she said.
In another internal staff memo released on Wednesday, it was revealed 61,090 patients at Peninsula Health had been tested, with 375 returning a positive result.
There have been 25 new cases in the past seven days, with 34 in ICU.
634 workers are on furlough, with 44 staff members testing positive.
Peninsula Health did not answer Leader’s questions in response to allegations from the healthcare worker.
Its chief executive Felicity Topp said the safety and wellbeing of our staff, patients and community was its utmost priority.
“Following the recent Frankston Hospital outbreak, Peninsula Health worked with a team of
highly skilled infection prevention experts to provide additional assistance in undertaking a
review of our COVID-19 practices, including evaluating our Personal Protective Equipment
guidelines and our education programs,” Ms Topp said.
“As a precautionary measure, we expanded our contact tracing processes over the last week resulting in the additional furloughing of staff across the service.”
Ms Topp said Peninsula Health was incredibly proud of its people and the resilience, dedication and compassion they have shown during the outbreak.
“A global pandemic is particularly stressful for everyone in healthcare and we would like to thank all our staff for stepping up to support each other through this testing time, and living the organisational values on a daily basis.”
MORE NEWS
WILD WEATHER LEAVES 99 SUBURBS WITH UNDRINKABLE WATER
FRANKSTON HOON ‘VERY ASHAMED’ AFTER LOADING UP ON COCKTAILS