Health services have implemented the National Safety and Quality Health Services (NSQHS) Standards, which aim to protect the public from harm and to improve the quality of healthcare provision. The NSQHS Standards describe the level of care you should expect to receive from a health service organisation, in areas that affect the safety and quality of care, and where there is good evidence of how to provide better care.
The NSQHS Standards include actions related to preventing and controlling infections. Healthcare professionals in your hospital will follow current national guidelines regarding preventing infections by doing such things as washing their hands, wearing gloves, gowns, masks and protective eye wear, when needed.
Your hospital will also follow specific guidance for use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for patients with COVID-19. These patients are only able to have urgent surgery, if needed.
Depending on local rates of community transmission, individual states and territories may recommend testing to manage risks for patients, healthcare workers and health service organisations. The mortality and morbidity rates for patients who have COVID-19 undergoing both elective and emergency surgery are higher than otherwise expected, even when such surgery is relatively minor. Therefore, it is usually safer to postpone elective surgery for someone who is symptomatic or who tests positive for COVID-19. Emergency surgery should not be delayed either because a patient is a COVID-19 case or while waiting for a test result where there is additional risk to the patient's clinical condition.
