Private hospital sector ‘ready to share coronavirus load’

Private hospitals are offering to take over elective surgery cases in the event that there is widespread transmission of the coronavirus in Australia.

Medical staff checking notes in an intensive care unit treating COVID-19 coronavirus patients at a hospital in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province. Picture: STR/AFP)

Private hospitals are offering to take over elective surgery cases from overstretched public hospitals in the event that there is widespread transmission of the coronavirus in Australia.

The federal government’s pandemic plan for COVID-19 warns that public hospitals may struggle to cope with any large influx of coronavirus patients, and would be forced to either cancel elective surgery or work in partnership with private hospitals to manage urgent cases.

Australian Private Hospitals Association chief executive Michael Roff met on Wednesday with federal Health Minister Greg Hunt and offered support from the private system in the event of a pandemic.

“The private hospital sector is willing to participate in the pandemic planning and response as required,” Mr Roff said.

“There are a range of measures that could be undertaken.

“The most obvious one is where major public hospitals were no longer able to perform elective surgery, that local private hospitals would assist in undertaking some of the more urgent elective surgery cases on contract from state governments.

“We’re willing to talk with the relevant government authorities to be involved in that process.

“Obviously there would need to be detailed arrangements about which doctors will be providing the surgery and if we’re providing surgery on behalf of the public system what the compensation and indemnity arrangements are.”

The federal government has activated its pandemic plan to deal with the coronavirus threat, with measures still focused on containing the virus.

But the pandemic plan, entitled the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus 2019, acknowledges that in the event the virus spreads around the world, Australia will not be immune.

 

“By definition, a novel coronavirus would be associated with a relative lack of immunity within communities,” the pandemic plan says. “Though the transmissibility of the disease will be an important limiting factor, the combination of this lack of immunity with the rapid movement possible through modern international transport systems make it likely that once a novel coronavirus achieves efficient human-to-human transmission, it will spread across the globe, including the Australian population.”

Hospitals would be forced to implement “surge” arrangements including opening more beds, expanding intensive care capacity and working with primary care services to deal with non-urgent patients.

The Victorian government is reviewing and updating its state-based pandemic plan, but other states are relying on existing plans in place to deal with influenza ­pandemics.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, said the government was “working around the clock to keep the community safe”.

“Victorians can be reassured that our current priority is containing the spread of this virus,” Professor Sutton said. “The epidemic in mainland China and many other countries is of major concern. The situation in Australia is, however, significantly different at this point in time.

“Victoria has long-developed plans in place to manage and control the risks of new infectious diseases like COVID-19 and these plans are being reviewed and amended as further information about COVID-19 emerges.”