By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey Hospital’s first intensive care beds are set to shortly open as part of the region’s “worst-case scenario” Covid-19 preparations.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced that patients had started moving into the hospital’s fast-tracked 128-bed inpatient tower to ensure the hospital had extra “surge capacity” for coronavirus’s peak.
A new 12-bed ICU in the tower was expected to open shortly, she said.
The extra capacity was part of a $1.9 billion State Government package to prepare the hospital system for Covid-19.
It involved boosting “tenfold” the state’s 450 ICU-bed capacity to 4000 with new beds and upgrading of acute-care beds.
As of 16 April, 230 new ICU beds were already available, Ms Mikakos said.
Ms Mikakos said works had started on a two-storey demountable unit next to Monash Medical Centre’s emergency department in Clayton.
Within weeks, it would house six resuscitation cubicles for patients that require medical ventilators before being transferred to the ICU.
“By bringing hundreds of additional beds online in just a few short weeks we now have additional capacity available to our health system right across the State to help our hospitals deal with this pandemic,” Ms Mikakos said.
Last week, Victoria received a shipment of 5 million protective masks and gloves, as well as “vital medical equipment” as part of preparations for the “worst”, if necessary.
A Monash Health spokesperson said planning was well underway to expand ICU capacity at Monash Medical Centre, Dandenong Hospital and Casey Hospital.
“To ensure our resources are used wisely in this constantly evolving situation, we are scaling our plans in line with demand.
“While physical beds and equipment form a large part of these plans, the training and up-skilling of our employees to work in critical care settings is also paramount.”
In recent weeks, Monash Health clinical staff had undergone Covid-19 simulation training, shadowed experienced ICU clinicians and extensively trained in using personal protective equipment (PPE).
Ms Mikakos said she wasn’t expecting a “huge spike” in coronavirus cases but the flattening of the curve was “fragile”.
She noted recent outbreaks like in other countries that had acted early, such as Singapore and Japan.
“The most important thing though is for Victorians to continue to stay home, so we can continue to flatten the curve – and save lives.”
As of 15 April, Victoria’s recorded Covid-19 cases totalled 1299, with 1137 recovered.
Fourteen patients had died from the virus.
