Public health recommendations related to the risk of COVID-19 infection have been issued for a number of groups of people who meet specific risk criteria. Refer to NSW Health current testing advice for up-to-date risk criteria.
If the patient has fever or acute respiratory illness, ask that they seek health advice (from their GP or by calling Healthdirect hotline on 1800 022 222) to exclude COVID-19 as well as to resolve any other health issues.
The following advice regarding community-based and outpatient health services reflects the recommendations for the above risk criteria.
Community-based and outpatient health services include activities occurring in:
Patient includes patient, family, carers and others who may be present at the time of the service.
Community health care providers should conduct routine risk assessment (by phone call or SMS) prior to home visiting prior. This should include asking patients whether they:
The outcome of this assessment screening should be documented in the patient’s medical record.
Facilities will need to develop a system to implement the above steps, which may include appointing an appropriate person to assess whether or not it’s clinically safe to defer the service or appointment and communicating with relevant partner service organisations.
Consider options to identify people at risk in the waiting area/service provision environment, such as: