Victoria’s Deputy Commander Adam Horsburgh says they have been considering calling a “code brown” for some time as hospital cases grow.
“As the number of omicron cases has risen over the past few weeks, our health care system has come under increasing strain. Omicron cases and admissions to hospital are now approaching 1,500 and on any given day we have approximately 5,000 health care workers who are not available to work. Added to this, we’re all experiencing challenges with our supply chain.”
“There are a range of options available to all services under the code brown. This may include ceasing or reducing non-urgent clinical services, such as some outpatient appointments, or looking to provide care increasingly outside of the hospital. Staff may be asked to work in different parts of the hospital or undertake tasks that they would not ordinarily perform. So there’s no doubt that over the past two years, we’ve asked an awful lot of our health care staff and it may be that over the coming weeks, we have to ask even more of them. This may include the option, if we get to that stage, of asking staff to defer some forms of leave.”
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