Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice for the health and disability sector

Your starting point for up-to-date and authoritative information and advice on COVID-19 for the health and disability sector.

Attending the workplace

  • Working arrangements
    Find out what health or aged care employers need to do to keep their staff and business safe during COVID-19.

Protection in the workplace

  • Hygiene and cleaning
    To protect yourself and your patients, it is important to maintain good hygiene and a clean workplace. Follow the guidelines for personal hygiene, routine cleaning, disinfecting, terminal cleaning, and protective gear.
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) for the health workforce
    PPE includes surgical masks, P2/N95 respirators, gloves, goggles, glasses, face shields, gowns and aprons. Find out who in the health workforce should use PPE, how to use PPE, and how we are managing the PPE in our National Medical Stockpile.
  • Mental health for the health workforce
    Health workers are facing unprecedented circumstances and pressure during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This can take a toll on mental health. Read about what you can do to look after your mental health and wellbeing during this challenging time.

Providing health care and supporting patients

  • Providing health care face to face
    When providing health care face to face during the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers should take steps to keep themselves and their patients safe. Read about when to provide care face to face and how to protect yourself and your patients.
  • Providing health care remotely
    To protect patients and healthcare providers from COVID-19 transmission, we have expanded telehealth services, fast-tracked electronic prescribing, and supported home delivery of medicines to vulnerable people. This allows health professionals to provide care remotely.

A new guide is available to help general practitioners have discussions with patients around their risk related to COVID-19.

When a patient has concerns about their risk of severe COVID-19 illness, you can help them develop a COVID-19 action plan. This plan considers their wishes and priorities and helps them manage risk and maintain a lifestyle that has quality and meaning.  

Managing COVID-19 in disability care

  • Managing COVID-19 in disability care
    Specialist resources and advice for disability support services and workers. Find out about when you must not go to work, getting tested, identifying symptoms in older people, and protecting yourself and the people you care for.

Resources and training

National guidelines

The Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) guides the Australian health sector response to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 National Guidelines for Public Health Units provides interim recommendations on:

  • surveillance
  • infection control
  • laboratory testing
  • contact management

The Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) updates these guidelines regularly.

    Key collection

    This collection contains resources for health professionals on:

    Aged Care Emergency and Crisis Management Training Program 2021

    Online training modules delivered as part of the Aged Care Emergency and Crisis Management Training Program 2021 have been extended until 30 June 2022.

    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to highlight vulnerabilities in aged care emergency and crisis management, and in particular, effective decision making.

    This training can help equip providers with the knowledge, tools and confidence to build or strengthen their organisation’s emergency and crisis management capability and assist to better ensure continued delivery of safe and quality care in challenging situations.

    The Program continues to be delivered by First 5 Minutes and RiskLogic, supported by funding from the Department of Health.

    Register now

    Dementia training and resources

    For advice on how to best support people living with dementia during this difficult time, go to these resources:

    Webinars

    View our webinars on the COVID-19 response for the health and aged care sector.

    Information for international health workers and medical students

    The Home Affairs website contains information for international health workers and medical students, including about:

    Staying informed

    To stay up to date:

    You can also subscribe to our health professional mailing lists:

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