Don’t panic was the message from West Gippsland Healthcare Group chief executive officer Dan Weeks last week when he reassured West Gippsland residents a regional health plan was in place to cope with increasing COVID cases.

With growing concern about a worsening health crisis facing Melbourne hospitals as COVID numbers soar, Mr Weeks said Gippsland was well placed to cope with increasing hospitalisations as lockdown ends.

In the past week, active cases across the Gippsland region have climbed significantly.

Health expert modelling predicts the number of cases will continue to rise once lockdown ends, forecast to be in the first week of November when second dose vaccination rates reach 80 per cent.

But, Mr Weeks said there was no need for residents to be concerned about access to healthcare.

“We don’t need to panic about this.  We are clearly like the rest of the world, we have to learn to live with COVID in our community.

“It’s not something to be fearful of, we just have to live with it.  That’s why there are vaccinations,” he said. 

Mr Weeks confirmed Latrobe Regional Hospital would be a streaming hospital for Gippsland COVID patients.

He said LRH was well prepared and had the capacity to meet the expected demand, including intensive care.

“We won’t have wards of COVID patients, it simply won’t happen.

“The numbers aren’t expected to be hundreds of patients.  The modelling isn’t suggesting we will face that.

“LRH can expand to a couple of wards of COVID patients but the modelling doesn’t suggest that will occur,” he said.

Mr Weeks said there continued to be a lot of planning at a state, regional and local level to ensure health services were prepared for a transition to COVID normal.

Currently, all local COVID cases requiring hospitalisation are streamed by Ambulance Victoria to Melbourne.

Mr Weeks confirmed there had been one local patient taken to Melbourne during the current outbreak.

A Regional Expert Advisory team, a multi-agency committee including representatives from Gippsland hospitals, Ambulance Victoria and infectious disease, has re-visited key hospitals to review and update COVID response plans.  

Mr Weeks said WGHG continued to work within the regional plan and would manage COVID positive patients who had other health needs such as renal dialysis or oncology.

He said having COVID patients streamed to LRH was better than having patients spread across all hospitals in Gippsland.

Mr Weeks said WGHG also worked closely with the Warragul Respiratory Clinic who had undertaken the vast majority of testing in Baw Baw over the past 18 months.

“We step in when there are surges like now and after Christmas,” he said.

Mr Weeks said they hoped to establish a small scale drive through testing clinic at the hospital to manage overflow from the Respiratory Clinic and use Lardner Park for significant demand.