Giving the growing number of COVID cases and exposure sites visitors will not be permitted to Austin Health sites from Saturday 7 August until further notice.

Exemptions

Exemptions remain in place for:

• Patients who are receiving end-of-life, terminal phase care
• Patients who are children under the age of 18
• Patients who have disability or behavioural needs where their carer is supporting clinical care.

Please discuss with your Nurse Unit Manager or care team to confirm if you are eligible.

You must maintain a physical distance of 1.5 meters from others and wear a mask when inside our hospitals. 

Contact a ward

To speak to a ward, call our Switchboard on 03 9496 5000.

Specialist clinics (outpatient) appointments

Where possible, Specialist Clinics (outpatient) appointments are being held by phone or Telehealth, rather than in person.

You will be contacted before your appointment to let you know if it will be conducted by phone or Telehealth. Please attend as normal unless told otherwise.

Patients who are required to attend face to face appointments are requested to come alone where possible.

One carer may remain if a patient:

• is a child under 18 years old
• has a disability
• has a behavioural need
• is non-English speaking and requires assistance with translation.
• is physically frail
• requires psychological support.

Find out more about attending your Specialist Clinics appointment. 

Visitors from exposure sites

The Victorian Government has a list of identified COVID-19 exposure sites that can be found here. 

If you have visited any of these sites then please follow the COVID testing and isolating instructions relevant to the exposure site/s (Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3) you have visited.

The traffic light system is also still in place to help keep the community safe during COVID-19 exposures and outbreaks across Australia. If you have been to a:

• Red zone: You may not visit our sites
• Orange zone: You may only visit our sites once you have completed your mandatory self-isolation period and have received your negative COVID-19 test result
• Green zone: You are welcome to visit our sites.

Find out the latest information on which areas in Australia are red, orange or green zones on Victorian Travel Permit System.

Screening

We are screening all visitors and outpatients entering Austin Health buildings, and have limited the number of entrances that people can use. 

Find out more about screening points for visitors and patients.

You can help us to speed up the screening process by completing our Visitor Registration form before coming to hospital.