Hospital check-ins could be next COVID rule to go
South Australian health authorities are considering scrapping QR code check-ins at public hospitals, but strict limits on patient visitors are set to stay, the state’s chief public health officer says.
Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
Scanning QR codes is still mandatory across the state’s hospitals, aged care and disability care facilities, despite the government earlier this year removing the requirement at other public places including shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues.
Latest government data shows a gradual decline in the number of QR code scans, with 23,057 checks-in logged on June 23, compared to 33,737 on May 23.
Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier told reporters on Monday that SA Health was considering whether QR check-ins at hospitals were still “fit for purpose”.
“(We’re) just having some conversations at the moment, so just flagging that we may have some changes shortly in that regard,” she said.
“At the moment, everyone checks-in as they go through to a hospital, but we need to look in terms of the fact that we’ve got more COVID in our community and are we actually providing any useful information back to the hospital using those QR code check-ins?”
It comes after SA Health announced it would scrap concierges at hospitals, meaning visitors will no longer have to answer questions about whether they pose a COVID-19 safety risk to patients and staff.
Spurrier said in order to remove the QR code check-in and concierge requirements, SA Health needed to maintain “other risk mitigation strategies” in hospitals, such as the use of masks and visitor restrictions “to ensure that our patients are kept as safe as possible”.
According to SA Health’s website, adult patients are limited to two visitors per day across all general wards, ambulatory treatment units and critical care units, while emergency department patients are restricted to one visitor per day.
Hospitals can make exceptions for patients in the terminal phase of an illness, or those in palliative care.
Asked if SA Health was also considering easing visitor restrictions alongside the QR check in requirement, Spurrier said: “That’s not something we’re looking at, at the moment”.
South Australia yesterday reported 2137 new COVID-19 cases – up from 1996 the day before.
Six people died after testing COVID-positive, including a woman in her 80s, two women in their 90s, a man in his 80s, a man in his 90s and a man over 100.
There were 210 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including nine in intensive care and none on a ventilator.
