ELECTIVE surgery at Albury hospital is currently unaffected by the latest Victorian border rules with doctors and specialists continuing to travel from Melbourne.
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While those who return to the capital from NSW face a 14-day quarantine under Victoria's red zone rating, Albury Wodonga Health nursing director Sally Squire said there had been no immediate staff shortage.
"You would be very aware that we do have a number of staff that do come to us as locums that live outside of the Border region," Ms Squire said.
"Every staff member that we have that does come from outside of the Border region undergoes a really rigorous risk assessment process, they're certainly vaccinated and tested, and it's something that we weigh up.
"Ensuring that we can continue to deliver a really high standard of safe quality care here at Albury Wodonga Health is always our priority."
Asked about the difficulties posed by a 14-day isolation order, Ms Squire said AWH was working on a case-by-case basis to ensure workers were available.
Ms Squire said AWH was liaising with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services about the status of travelling medicos when quizzed over whether an exemption from quarantine was being sought.
"There are arrangements that we can put into place within the department of health guidelines to support the transition of those staff back to where they have come from," she said before adding quarantine may be on an individual basis.
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Ms Squire said the vaccination requirement for visiting medics had not been a great hinderance.
"We've certainly found that hasn't been too much of a problem for us and I think a lot of that kind of workforce that are mobile and work in a locum space have been able to prioritise their vaccinations to have them done," she said.
Meanwhile, those from areas of NSW deemed red zones, beyond the border bubble, have been banned from visiting AWH hospitals.
"Each and every visitor that arrives at our health service undergoes a rigorous screening process," Ms Squire said.
"That means any visitor, who may even reside in the border bubble but may have gone out into a red zone, we're certainly excluding them from visiting at this time."
Visitors to Albury and Wodonga hospital already are temperature tested when arriving.
