Statement on public-private hospital arrangements

The members of Council of Procedural Specialists (COPS) are committed to working with Federal and State Governments to support arrangements that utilise the private hospital sector in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. We congratulate the Federal and State Ministers for Health on this initiative.

The members of COPS have agreed that the following arrangements will facilitate the implementation of the Federal and State Governments’ initiative to mobilise private hospital resources for the duration of the pandemic.

The major concern of our members continues to be their personal safety and the safety of all healthcare workers and their patients, and COPS therefore requests on behalf of its members that:

1. All participating doctors be supplied with appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment).
2. All participating doctors be contracted on terms which will provide indemnity, relevant workplace compensation should they become unwell in the course of caring for public COVID-19 patients. The use of existing specialist/VMO and public hospital contracts can act as a guide for specific terms and conditions.
3. All arrangements be “Agreed subject only to the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic as declared by the Australian Government and/or the World Health Organisation". Following this, all arrangements pre-COVID-19 to resume.

COPS will work in any way possible with Federal and State Government authorities to facilitate rapid access to required PPE and supports a streamlined fast decision-making process that will quickly identify appropriate PPE supplies that can be made available to healthcare workers in the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.