Health services in Canberra are shifting to suspend all elective surgery, other than category 1, across public and private hospital systems today as five new cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in the ACT.
The Prime Minister announced today that from 11.59pm 25 March until further notice all elective surgery, other than category 1 and urgent category 2 cases, will be suspended.
Alongside this measure, the ACT’s public health system will also be reducing non-urgent and non-essential outpatient and community activity.
From Thursday 26 March, appointments that clinicians deem to be non-essential will be either cancelled or postponed.
Essential appointments will be converted to virtual appointments where possible. This will include telephone or video consultations.
Canberra Health Services (CHS) is contacting patients whose appointments or treatments are affected.
No patient will lose their spot on the wait list as a result of these actions.
The five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 bring the ACT’s total to 44. These new instances include four males and one female, aged between 27 and 73.
ACT Health have confirmed that four of the new cases are linked to overseas travel, including cruise ships, while the other involved close contact with a confirmed case.
They report no evidence of community transmission in the ACT to date.
UC Hospital receive patients and move to close hydrotherapy pool
ACT Health also announced that to provide increased capacity in acute wards at Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital for acutely unwell patients, 28 patients from Canberra Hospital and two patients from Calvary Hospital are being moved to University of Canberra Hospital (UCH).
From Monday 30 March, the UCH hydrotherapy pool will temporarily close in response to the ACT Government’s shutdown of all non-essential services, including gyms and indoor sporting facilities.
CHS are encouraging people to continue with a home-based rehabilitation program.
See all ACT Health service changes at health.act.gov.au
