I recently questioned the government on whether it will mandate N95 or P2 mask-wearing in clinical areas in NSW hospitals or, at a minimum, collect statewide data on hospital‑acquired infections.

Here's how that went:

AMANDA COHN: My question is directed to the Minister for Finance, representing the Minister for Health. This week the ABC reported data obtained under freedom of information showing that in Victoria, on average, six people have died per week from COVID infections that they caught in hospital since 2022, when infection prevention measures were scaled back and public health orders were revoked. NSW Health says that its strategies to manage and prevent infection are responsive, but data regarding hospital-acquired COVID infection is not even aggregated at a State level. Nobody is advocating for broad or restrictive measures like lockdowns, but hospitals are a specific setting where patients are already sick and extremely vulnerable to infection. Will the Government introduce N95 or P2 mask-wearing in clinical areas in hospitals or, at a minimum, collect statewide data on hospital‑acquired infections in New South Wales hospitals?

The Hon. COURTNEY HOUSSOS (Minister for Finance, Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement, and Minister for Natural Resources representing the Minister for Health): I thank the member for her important question on how we are managing COVID in our hospitals. I am answering it in my capacity representing the Minister for Health in the other place. I again commend him for his excellent work in this somewhat challenging space. I am advised that the Clinical Excellence Commission, as the lead agency for infection prevention and control and healthcare‑associated infection, provides comprehensive policies, guidelines and resources to support NSW Health. Implementation of infection prevention and control is supported by globally acceptable practices and frameworks adopting standard and transmission-based precautions.

Standard precautions are applied equally to all patients, assessing risk of infection transmission and acquisition. Additional guidance for vulnerable groups is provided in theInfection Prevention and Control Practice Handbook, including enhanced strategies and protective precautions. NSW Health has moved from an emergency response in managing COVID-19, in keeping with the management of all other transmissible or contagious infections. NSW Health organisations are recommended to implement the NSW Infection Prevention and Control Response and Escalation Framework as part of their ongoing management of COVID‑19 and other acute respiratory infections. The foundational level of the framework provides core infection prevention and control measures for protecting patients, staff and visitors, and for protecting and managing acute respiratory infections, including COVID-19. Foundational level underpins all the alert levels used during the pandemic. But staff are no longer required to universally wear masks in all clinical and patient-facing areas, and have moved to a risk assessment application.

Infection prevention and control strategies are well embedded in our health system, shifting away from the mandatory and universal application to a risk management approach. Masks are required in line with the following: as standard precautions when risk of exposure to blood and body substances is anticipated, and as transmission‑based precautions. Patients who come to hospital with an acute respiratory infection or suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are still required to be isolated and wear masks. P2 or N95 respirators are to be worn by staff when caring for patients with COVID-19 or other airborne pathogens, and surgical masks are to be worn when caring for patients with other acute respiratory infections, as dictated by known modes of transmission. Patients considered vulnerable are provided with additional information on risk mitigation strategies. Noncompliant health workers, including those with exemptions for influenza or COVID-19 vaccinations, are required to wear a surgical mask at a minimum while in the health facility.

This what I said in response to the Minister's answer:

I take note of the answer to my question regarding the transmission of COVID-19 infections in hospitals in New South Wales. Minister Houssos was reading verbatim from a response I received to a question taken on notice during budget estimates hearings earlier this year. Many people, particularly those living with chronic complex medical conditions, including immunocompromised people and their carers, are horrified by the so-called standard and foundational precautions that are not sufficient to protect patients from infections in healthcare settings. They should and must be safe for patients and for staff.

I appreciate that Minister Houssos is not the Minister for Health—she is representing the Minister for Health—but she did not respond at all to the part of my question relating to data collection. I call on the Minister for Health, given his confidence in the status quo, to actually collect and publicly report the data. Six people a week are dying in Victoria from COVID-19 infections they have acquired in hospitals, and there is no good reason to believe the situation is any better in New South Wales. We must be collecting and aggregating the data at a statewide level so that we can understand the problem in New South Wales.

I also take note of the answer from the Treasurer to Ms Abigail Boyd's question regarding domestic violence. I build on her excellent contributions to the take-note debate. In my own experience, as a GP working on the border in Albury-Wodonga, and my firsthand experience of the Victorian Government's intervention following its royal commission in 2015, one in five women who have experienced family and domestic violence make their very first disclosure of that violence to their GP. It is an important and trusting relationship.

In my experience when a patient made that disclosure and placed their trust in me, the very first thing I had to do to work out the next steps for that patient was to have a look at her postcode because if that person lived in Victoria, they could access the Orange Door service, a one-stop shop to get wraparound multidisciplinary support. I could sleep safe at night knowing they would be cared for and that their psychosocial needs would be met so that I only needed to look after their healthcare needs.

If that patient lived in New South Wales, I would face a litany of wrong doors, referrals would be passed on and the buck would be passed between the housing department, the sexual assault service, police, the criminal justice system and mental health. There was no equivalent service in New South Wales providing holistic care and support to victims of family and domestic violence. There is an excellent service provider in my community of Albury called Yes Unlimited, primarily a housing service provider which has absolutely gone above and beyond its core purpose to show leadership on the issue and lead the Staying Home Leaving Violence program in Albury. It is doing absolutely outstanding work, but there are important lessons for us to learn from the Victorian experience. We need that level of funding in New South Wales.

You can keep up to date with my work in Health including Mental Health here.