Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District has confirmed its hospitals are well stocked with personal protective equipment and have the intensive care unit capacity should an outbreak occur in the region.
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District executive officer Margot Mains said daily audits of PPE were carried out as part of the extensive planning and response to COVID-19, to ensure adequate supplies are maintained.
"The safety of our staff and patients is paramount, and all frontline staff have access to the PPE required to perform their roles," she said.
"No member of staff would be required or expected to undertake any work requiring PPE unless the appropriate PPE was available.
"We have worked incredibly hard in recent months to prepare our intensive care capacity, our critical care staff and our infrastructure.
"We have also implemented virtual care so our clinical teams can extend tailored patient care when required."
Ms Mains said NSW Health initially aimed to double ICU capacity across the state in response to COVID-19 but has since more than tripled its capacity, from 500 to more than 1,500 beds, and is working towards quadrupling it.
"In ISLHD, we operate 27 ICU beds in normal operations and we have plans in place to be able to quickly expand this number across Wollongong and Shoalhaven, as well as working with private hospital partners if required," Ms Mains said.
"Wollongong Hospital and Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital have COVID areas on wards for COVID-19 patients or patients awaiting test results.
"These wards can flex as required for COVID-19 and this can occur within 24 hours."
Meantime, thirteen new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday night bringing the total number of cases in the state to 3410.
There were 15,903 tests carried out in the 24-hour reporting period, compared with 21,167 tests in the previous 24 hours.
There were no new confirmed cases in the ISLHD.
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