Scramble to prepare as possibility of record COVID-19 hospitalisations looms

Victorian hospitals are making urgent changes in a bid to cope with ongoing strain due to COVID-19, amid fears the current wave of the virus will trigger record hospitalisation numbers.

Emergency departments are expanding, temporary negative pressure rooms are being installed and new roles are being increased to help paramedics offload critically ill patients quickly.

Head of the Melbourne School of Health Sciences at Melbourne University, Bruce Thompson, says hospitals were already battling a capacity issue before the pandemic.

“In 2019 we didn’t have enough beds, and now we have a new condition that didn’t exist before — and this is a doozy, it takes up a lot of beds,” he told Ross and Russel.

At the moment we’ve got 740 people in the hospital with pneumonia. We didn’t have 740 extra beds floating around so we have to displace people to be able to do that, or expand the size.”

Professor Thompson says even if a specialised infectious diseases hospital was set up, it would take years to build, so it’s critical that Victorians take every step available to reduce COVID-19 transmission.

“Everyone really needs to start wearing masks again,” he said.

“We’ve got to look after our healthcare workers.”

Press PLAY below to hear what hospitals are doing to prepare