COVID-19 weekly update – 14 December 2022

COVID-19 cases in the region

The number of COVID cases in our region continue to remain high. General practices should take the necessary steps to ensure they are able to respond to this increase. Infection control and wearing masks (staff and patients) is still critically important. 

For further information on the latest number of COVID cases please go to the latest NSW COVID statistics. If you would like information and support on infection prevention and control for your practice, please email at coronavirus@cesphn.com.au 

Christmas closing date for PPE orders

Please Note:  General practices and pharmacies within our region should place final PPE orders by COB Wednesday 14 December 2022 to allow sufficient processing and distribution time by the Department, due to the Christmas holidays and lead time for processing of orders for January stock.  

Your order must be submitted to CESPHN via the online order form by 5pm Wednesday 14 December. Please read the guidance document before placing your order: 

New PPE arrangements from 1 January 2023 

As part of the National COVID-19 Health Management Plan for 2023, all Living with COVID measures scheduled to cease on 31 December 2022 have been reviewed by the Department of Health and Ageing. 

From 1 January 2023, general practices should source their PPE through local commercial suppliers as CESPHN will no longer be receiving orders for PPE. 

Pulse oximeters for your patients 

CESPHN is still providing pulse oximeters – please see details below 

• Individual patients – we have access to a small supply of oximeters. GPs with patients they believe require a pulse oximeter urgently are asked to complete this CESPHN Pulse Oximeter online form with the patients details and we will arrange delivery of an oximeter 

• General practices – practices actively seeing moderate risk COVID positive patients can also be sent up to 10 pulse oximeters per practice via the new PPE online ordering form. If your practice has already received 10 pulse oximeters via the previous process, you will need to access future stock through your local suppliers 

Living with COVID PPE Bundles are available for:

• GPs, ACCHS and GPRCs willing to manage COVID positive patients face-to-face.
• ACCHSs and rural and remote GPs willing to treat COVID positive patients virtually and respiratory patients face-to-face, where workforce capacity is limited AND the GP is serving the community for most of all health needs.
• GPs and GPRCs willing to support COVID positive people virtually, and respiratory patients face to face.

Accessing pulse oximeters for your patients

Individual patients – we have access to a small supply of oximeters. GPs with patients they believe require a pulse oximeter urgently are asked to complete this CESPHN Pulse Oximeter online form with the patients details and we will arrange delivery of an oximeter.

General practices – practices actively seeing moderate risk COVID positive patients can also be sent up to 10 pulse oximeters per practice via the new PPE online ordering form. If your practice has already received 10 pulse oximeters via the previous process, you will need to access future stock through your local suppliers.

CESPHN Vax at Home service

The CESPHN Vax at Home Service is for those people who are housebound and not able to leave their house to receive a COVID-19 vaccination or booster. The service will accept referrals for people 16 years and over. Referrals will be accepted from GPs and from Local Health Districts. Patient self-referrals will not be accepted.

All referrals must be sent through this Vax at Home Service Online Form. Please also indicate if an influenza vaccine is also required. Please note, a referral will need to be attached to the online form. For further information on the program, please contact us. This service will continue to receive referrals over the Christmas shut down period. Please note if your referral is urgent and the service will prioritise accordingly and vaccinations arranged.

Healthdirect COVID-19 Symptom and Antiviral Eligibility Checker

To help more Australians understand their COVID symptoms, what care they need and if they may be eligible for antiviral treatment, the healthdirect COVID-19 Symptom and Antiviral Eligibility Checker is now available in 11 languages. These languages include Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.

The COVID-19 Symptom and Antiviral Eligibility Checker is a simple self-help tool to help Australians understand if they:

• have COVID-19 symptoms that mean they need to get medical help or will be able to recover at home
• may be eligible for a COVID-19 antiviral treatment and should contact their GP for assessment

To date, the symptom checker has been used nearly 14 million times to help people. To increase awareness of the symptom checker and assist more people in the community, we are sharing in-language social assets – please use these materials in your social media channels as appropriate. 

Tis the season to be COVID-19 safe  

The Department of Health has developed a range of posters and social media tiles for residential aged care providers to use to help protect residents from COVID-19. 

Posters: 

• Residential aged care COVID-19 poster A4 
• Help protect residents from COVID-19 poster A4 

• Tis the season to be COVID safe poster A4

Social media tiles: 

• Help protect residents – social media tile 
• Be COVID safe – social media tile 

• STOP help protect our residents – social media tile 
• Tis the season – social media tile 
• Festive season – social media tile 

Update to COVID-19 Vaccination Administration System (CVAS)  

COVID vaccines, or remove access to existing COVID vaccines 

Sites participating in the COVID-19 Vaccine Program can log into CVAS and directly request to activate, reactivate or deactivate access to one or more vaccine products.  

Withdrawing from specific vaccines: 

Before making a request to deactivate a vaccine type, sites will need to ensure they have completed a final Stock Management Report and recorded zero stock on hand for the vaccine type they are requesting to be deactivated for.  

Please note, a request does not guarantee a site will be activated for the requested vaccine type, approval of requests is at the discretion of the Department. 

Withdrawing from the program completely: 

If a site would like to withdraw completely from the program, they will need to log into CVAS to request withdrawal from all vaccine types and then contact their local PHN to fully withdraw from the program.  

For your site to withdraw from the program you must: 

• Have they completed a final Stock Management Report and recorded zero stock on hand for all vaccine types they have on hand 
• Sites are able to remain deactivated in CVAS but retain access to the site in the event they would like to participate in the program in the future, also known as taking a break. They will not be required to complete any mandatory reporting during this time. This will enable the site to be able to participate in the Program again, should the need arise. 
• To log into the Vaccine Clinic Finder Connect and remove themselves as a vaccine provider from the Vaccine Clinic Finder 

If sites are in need of assistance when requesting either option via CVAS, you can contact the Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC) on 1800 318 208.