CORONAVIRUS — PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
— FIT TESTING
936. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to
the Minister for Health:
Will the Minister for Health provide to the house a time line
on when P2 and N95 fit testing will be undertaken for hospital staff in Western
Australia?
Mr R.H. COOK replied:
The commitment on fit
testing was made some time ago in conjunction with healthcare worker
representatives or the health unions. The fit testing regime is one that
we are committed to. Some states already have it in place; others continue to
roll it out as part of their overall response. The safety of our staff is our single
biggest priority; we want to make sure that
we keep our health workers safe, particularly during this time of COVID-19. All
Western Australian healthcare workers are provided with personal
protective equipment to make sure that they can protect themselves and their
patients, particularly in high-risk situations such as aerosol-generating
procedures, which require higher grade masks. However, those masks should be
tested on individuals to ensure that it is a satisfactory fit to their face,
and this requires a 30-minute fit testing procedure that requires specialised
equipment and trained staff. The equipment has been purchased and trainers are
currently being identified and are undertaking that training. That training
will continue, with a view to rolling out the testing to high-risk areas in the
first instance. A sustainable program of
testing that complies with international standards has been designed and we
will make sure that gets going as soon as possible. I have asked the
department to see whether it can speed up that process, because we understand
that it is an area of concern.
I should just say that throughout our entire experience of
COVID-19, not one healthcare worker has contracted COVID-19 in a clinical context in Western Australia—that is, from
their place of work. That is an outstanding result. This includes the
healthcare workers at Joondalup hospital who had to care for the Artania
patients, many of whom were very sick indeed and obviously occupied many of the
beds at that hospital. All those staff have since been serology tested, so we know that even if they had been asymptomatic, the
lack of presence of any antibodies in their system indicates that there was no transmission of the disease at all.
But that does not mean we should not take extra precautions. The fit
testing regime that the department has designed and is committed to, along with
the McGowan government, is obviously an important next step, and we will roll
it out as soon as possible.