Coronavirus Australia: Victoria’s $1.3b plan for ‘worst-case scenario’

The Victorian government is preparing for the worst by introducing the biggest intensive care expansion in the state’s history.

The Victorian government has announced a new $1.3 billion plan to prepare the healthcare system for an influx of coronavirus cases.

State Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the state was getting ready for the “worst-case scenario” and the package would pay for the biggest expansion of the intensive care capacity in Victoria’s history.

She said the state currently had about 500 intensive care beds, with the money going towards funding an extra 4000 and equipment that would be needed going forward.

“This is worst-case scenario planning. We hope that we will never need to actually use this type of capacity in Victoria, and it is incumbent on all of us to do our bit and to make sure that this capacity won’t actually be needed,” Ms Mikakos said at a press conference this morning.

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Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos addresses the media during a press conference in Melbourne. Picture: James Ross/AAP

“It fills me with dread to think that we may have thousands of Victorians on ventilators, in intensive care beds.

“If we all follow the social distancing rules, if we all stay at home, then we can flatten the curve, slow down the spread of the virus and hopefully not need to use this capacity. But of course, we need to plan for the worst, and that’s what this significant upgrade of our intensive care capacity is.”

Ms Mikakos explained that the difference between an intensive care bed and a regular hospital bed was the staff and equipment that goes with it.

Ventilators, IV infusion pumps, patient monitors, dialysis machines and other sophisticated medical equipment will need to be purchased to upgrade the beds.

Part of the package will see more healthcare workers given the training they need to work in intensive care units.

The minister said they were working to “effectively merge” the private system with the public system.

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A coronavirus isolation room at Cabrini private hospital in Melbourne. Picture: James Ross/AAP

“This is what is being described as the Victorian model. Us effectively running private hospitals in Victoria, being able to direct which patients go where so that we have the whole health system in Victoria working as one to make sure that we can best use that capacity,” Ms Mikakos said.

“So that effectively brings 9000 beds from Victoria’s private hospitals into our system as well as, of course, their intensive care beds.

“This is a massive scaling up of Victoria’s hospital system, to make sure that we are ready for the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We certainly hope that we never need to use this capacity.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said if people did not continue to stay home and follow social distancing rules then the virus would undoubtedly start to spread more rapidly and overrun the healthcare system.

“If this gets away from us, the $1.3 billion I’m announcing today, the $500 million we announced last week, that will be nowhere near enough,” he said.

“There will be nowhere near enough intensive care beds if this gets away from us. No country in the world can have enough intensive care beds if this virus really takes hold and people have not done the right thing.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said people need to continue to follow social distancing and self-isolation rules. Picture: James Ross/AAP

He said while upgrading the state’s intensive care capacity was going to help in the fight against the virus, it was more important that everyone followed the rules put in place.

"If you don’t have to go out, don’t go out. That’s the key message. It couldn’t be simpler. And I know that there’s a lot of debate and discussion about what’s in the rules and what isn’t. Use your commonsense,” Mr Andrews said.

“If you don’t need to do it – don’t do it. If you can stay at home, you must stay at home.

“These are actually really simple messages. They’re small things in the scheme of everything. But they make a massive difference in terms of our capacity and our health system, and the number of people who will die because of this virus.”

The premier praised residents who had been doing the right thing, adding that all the social distancing measures that were in place were helping to flatten the curve.

“While there are still more cases each day, we’re not seeing the scenes and the kind of growth in cases that so many other parts of the world are experiencing right now,” he said.