Thousands of patients caught COVID in Victorian public hospitals in the past two years and hundreds died, fuelling concerns that health services aren't taking strong enough precautions against airborne viruses.
When Dean's* father was rushed to hospital with a bad case of gastro in February, he assumed he'd be back on his feet in a few days.
Now, new data shows thousands of patients caught COVID in Victorian public hospitals in the past two years — and hundreds died — fuelling concerns that hospitals are not taking strong enough precautions against airborne viruses, and calls for stronger leadership from the Department of Health.Documents obtained by ABC News under Freedom of Information laws reveal at least 6,212 patients caught COVID in hospital in 24 months — 3,890 in 2022 and 2,322 in 2023.
As for the number of people catching COVID in hospital, Dr Bouchoucha said: "I think any hospital acquired infection is concerning". There isn't an "acceptable" number of golden staph or tuberculosis infections — "we aim for zero", he said. "So why don't we do that with COVID?" "Many people are telling me they're tired of wearing masks and some patients are saying they're tired of seeing their carers in masks, as well," Professor Rhonda Stuart, director of public health and infection prevention at Monash Health, told staff at an employee forum in February.that found removing a surgical mask wearing policy in some hospital wards did not significantly affect the rate of nosocomial COVID infections, or those caught in hospital.
"To me … any sort of nosocomial infection is a disaster," Dr Marshall said. "So we do our utmost and we're not always successful, but we do as much as we reasonably can based on the evidence we have and the factors we have to take into account." Ruby was admitted to Upton House, the adult psychiatric unit at Box Hill Hospital, in late January after experiencing family violence and a decline in her mental health. When she tested positive to COVID a few days later, she wasn't surprised: other patients with COVID were allowed to roam freely through the ward without masks, she said, and staff were either in surgical masks — many "below their nose" — or no masks at all.
At least that's not what Dean observed. He's still upset that the hospital didn't alert him when his father tested positive to COVID, and that his dad blamed himself for catching it in the emergency department in the first place.
Victoria Hospitals N95 Masks Masks In Hospitals Royal Melbourne Hospital Burnet Institute RAT Testing PCR Testing Deaths Patients Catching COVID In Hospital Airborne Virus Infection Prevention And Control Department Of Health
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