Barwon Health’s new emergency department director confident in Covid plans
Barwon Health has appointed a new emergency department director, who has spoken about how local health services will deal with any influx of Covid patients to Geelong hospital.
Geelong
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Barwon Health’s new emergency department director is confident in plans to support any influx of Covid patients to Geelong hospital.
Dr Belinda Hibble grew up in the Geelong region and studied medicine in Melbourne.
She has spent the majority of the last 14 years at Geelong, but has also worked at Melbourne hospitals including the Royal Melbourne and Royal Women’s.
Dr Hibble has been working as an emergency specialist at Geelong hospital for the last seven years and recently got promoted to the director role.
The Geelong hospital emergency department treated 78,126 people in the 2018-19 financial year – its busiest year on record.
There were 73,345 presentations in 2019-20, and ED presentation figures in 2020-21 are expected to be lower than previous years due to the impact of Covid-19.
They will be released when the annual report is published in late October.
“We tend to see during periods of lockdown there is a small drop off in attendance numbers,” Dr Hibble said.
“That was probably more profound last year.
“We know across the nation there’s been rising demand for emergency care.
“We’re not immune to that, we experience that as well particularly in the context of increased growth in our region.”
Dr Hibble said the emergency department was well prepared for any increase in patients as Victoria reopens.
“I do think it’s likely over coming weeks and months more Covid patients will need to be cared for at the hospital, and come through the ED potentially, but we’re well placed with plans to keep everyone safe,” she said.
“We’ve got really detailed planning underway in the ED and across the organisation for any escalation with Covid that happens in our region.”
Dr Hibble said Barwon Health’s remote patient monitoring program provided rapid support for Covid patients, and had the ability to be expanded as needed.
She said she believed the program would help support as many people as possible to continue to be cared for in the community.
Dr Hibble said the ED had many systems in place for infection prevention including PPE, staff vaccination, and cohorting patients.
“We have a program of regular swabbing of our staff that’s highly recommended in the ED so we can monitor for any asymptomatic infection that may have occurred and to date that has not occurred,” she said.
Work is currently underway at the ED on a mental health and other drugs hub, which Dr Hibble said it was hoped would come online later this year.
“That’s going to … transform how we can care for our mental health consumers when they’re experiencing crisis,” she said.
“We have a vision and a plan that will offer comprehensive care to then link them back in with community services Barwon Health offers.
“It will offer more privacy in a more appropriate environment for someone experiencing psychological distress.”
Dr Hibble said she was “very excited” about taking on the role as emergency department director.
“We’ve got a really wonderful team.”
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Originally published as Barwon Health’s new emergency department director confident in Covid plans
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