A Victorian hospital patient reportedly faked chest pains in an extreme attempt to gain access to a PCR test in a Melbourne hospital.
The patient last week called triple zero complaining of chest pains, despite pleas to the public to avoid emergency departments and calling for ambulances in the face of extreme pressures on the health system.
The person presented to the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s emergency department where they were fast-tracked down to a resuscitation room.
But once in the room, the patient admitted they didn’t have chest pain and only wanted a PCR test.
“They wanted a PCR test and wanted it quickly,” the hospital’s head emergency department nurse Susan Harding said.
“It was an unbelievable misuse of resources and we are asking people to make good decisions.”
It comes as the Victorian government announced on Tuesday it had declared a code brown for all metropolitan hospitals, as well as six regional hospitals in the state.
The health system has faced severe pressure in the face of the current outbreak, with emergency departments and ambulance services at breaking point.
Ms Harding emphasised it was important for people to only approach emergency departments if it was an emergency.
“We’ve been challenged in the last couple of weeks and what we don’t want to do is put our health care service under pressure,” she said.
Victoria recorded 20,180 new cases of Covid on Tuesday, as officials predicted the state would soon reach its peak under Omicron.
The Victorian Department of Health revealed on Tuesday 1152 people were in hospital with the virus.
There are currently 127 people in ICU and 43 on a ventilator.
In Victoria, 22 people died of the virus overnight.
While authorities revealed the state was approaching its peak, chief health officer Brett Sutton said the health system was bracing for an influx in hospitalisations.
“Those hospital numbers are going to increase, there’s a lag compared to our daily case numbers and over the next few weeks we will see hospital numbers go up,” he said.
“We really need to make sure we’re protecting each and every single person who is eligible for a booster to avoid hospital.”
Isolation rules changed in Victoria overnight, with exemptions coming in for some close contacts in the state.
Workers within certain critical industries who are named close contacts will no longer have to isolate if they have been exposed to a positive case.
The exemptions apply for workers in healthcare, emergency services, education, food production, prisons, freight and transport.
Workers must be asymptomatic, return a negative rapid antigen test for five days, wear an N95 mask and avoxjmtzywid shared break areas.
“They will be exempt if they are playing a critical role,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.
“These sectors need to continue, regardless of the fact that we are in a global pandemic.
“(But they) cannot go to the pub afterwards or go visit other people, it is about being able to get back to work to perform a critical function.”
