The first patient with COVID-19 arrived at Middlemore Hospital March last year. Since then our teams have been safely treating all our patients, regardless of their health emergency. As community cases rise, Middlemore Hospital is ready to admit and care for more patients with COVID-19 related illnesses.
Emergency Department teams are trained to work in stressful environments. At Middlemore hospital that’s over 450 Aucklanders working in an environment that has a plan in place to manage unexpected, and expected, events.
The latest community outbreak of COVID-19 is definitely not welcome but it’s not unexpected. Our teams are well prepared, and safety measures like working in the same smaller teams, wearing full personal protection equipment, and a wellbeing focus for our frontline staff is embedded at Middlemore Hospital.
“We are well prepared to safely care for all patients who need our help” says Tracey Mitchell, Service Manager, Middlemore Emergency Department.
“We’ve streamlined our approach for COVID-19 patients, established a respiratory unit and increased our staffing levels in areas where we need to.
“We are expecting the number of people who are seriously ill with COVID-19 related side effects to increase and need our help. No one should ignore health symptoms and people should call 111 with all life threatening emergencies. People with concerns, injuries or illnesses that aren’t life threatening should see their family doctor, call Healthline or go to an Accident and Medical clinic.
“It is important people get the right health treatment and support. Sometimes patients arrive at our department who don’t need emergency care. There are other options for non-emergency situations. People don’t need to suffer and the right care for their health concerns is available, just not always at the emergency department in a hospital. All life threatening emergencies should call 111” she says.
Middlemore Hospital currently has 20 COVID-19 positive patients at midday 31 August 2021.
For more information about the right care for you please visit countiesmanukau.health.nz.
Whakaaro mo te tangata: Be mindful of others