Quarantine program involvement to conclude

Alfred Health chief operating officer Simone Alexander said as the need for quarantine services continued to reduce, bringing highly trained staff back to hospitals, clinics and community programs was a priority for the health service.

“I’m proud of how tirelessly our hotel services staff worked to support the Victorian community, and to keep them safe through the uncertainty of the pandemic,” Ms Alexander said.

“Now, our focus is to tackle the challenge of supporting patients who have had their care deferred due to the pandemic.”

While operating the health and complex care hotels, Alfred Health provided specialist care to thousands of residents at a challenging time in Victoria when no vaccines were available.

“We commenced support for hotel quarantine in April 2020 when our first nurses were deployed to provide phone wellness checks.  Within a few months this support developed into operating health hotels,” Ms Alexander said.

“The dedication, the rigour of our infection prevention protocols, and the skill of each and every staff member meant there was no COVID-19 transmission from these hotels – even as Delta arrived on our doorstep.

“Thank you to our staff and to our community for the support throughout the operation of this program.”

Alfred Health operated Victoria’s health hotel and complex care hotel – part of the COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria program – from December 2020.  

The health service will maintain support for quarantine services until sometime next month when the program is expected to complete its transition to the Victorian Quarantine Hub at Mickleham.