Dr Lucille Wilkinson. Picture / Supplied
Dr Lucille Wilkinson, who heads the Department of Medicine, says the Northland DHB has been setting up its clinical response to ensure it is ready for for the potential for Covid-19 to change the way it works.
There were several aspects to a clinical response — being ready for an increase in the number of those needing hospitalisation, for a different type of workload and appropriate training for staff.
"We need to be ready for more patients with respiratory illness, more patients who need to be isolated from other patients, and more people who might need a higher level of care with severe respiratory illness," Dr Wilkinson said.
"This in turn means that we need training for our staff, particularly in using personal protection equipment and to understand what support patients might need if they become unwell. We need to be as ready as we can be, so that our staff have the ability to keep themselves and their patients safe.
"We have been preparing ever since we heard about this virus in January, thinking about what our response should be both locally and nationally. Once we got our first case in New Zealand, it was obvious that we needed to ramp that up more, in changing the way our hospital works.
"There always needs to be a balance in how we do that; we need to consider whether we should change things early and not being able to continue what we normally do versus being prepared ahead of time so we do not end up overwhelmed and not ready for a change in what we do."
She believed the DHB had got the balance "pretty right".
"I think we are in a situation where we are as ready as we can be, but we haven't stopped our usual work too early. It's a difficult thing; it's getting the timing right," she said.
Meanwhile she was asking all staff to remember to be kind to one another, to be kind to their patients and their patients' relatives, who were unable to visit to keep their loved ones up to date with what was happening with their family. She was also asking staff to listen to the advice they were getting from the public health teams.
"This is their job. This is their expertise and what they prepare for," she said.
"I think we are all going to need to be very strong during this time. We will all need to show a Northland spirit to enable our people in our region to be as well as possible through this event.
"This is a very difficult time for a lot of our staff, including myself, being separated from their families. I know a lot of staff have made huge sacrifices to keep their families safe. For some, that has meant not living with their families at present. I think others are very worried about their parents or older family members, and what effects Covid-19 could have if it did spread in the community.
"So, again, that kindness to each other, and knowing that everyone is going through a lot of different thoughts and processes, is important as we communicate with each other and carry on our day-to-day work."