WA's peak medical body has hit out at new 'red alert' rules that mean many patients in public hospitals can no longer be visited by a partner or spouse.
The state's hospital system has transitioned to the second-highest alert level to help mitigate the risk of COVID transmission.
One of the most significant changes under red alert is the restriction of visitors to only those classed as 'essential' – a group that does not generally include partners or spouses.
Australian Medical Association WA president Mark Duncan-Smith said the rules lack compassion and amounted to "bureaucratic absurdity".
Essential visitors limited to very few people
According to health department guidelines, a red alert means there is widespread transmission of the virus, with WA recording 1,770 cases on Tuesday when the change was announced.
Those guidelines set out that essential visitors include:
- A labour support person
- A parent/guardian of an admitted child
- A guardian/carer for a patient living with a disability
- A support person visiting for critical illness or end-of-life care
- Up to two visitors in an "emergency circumstance"
A patient in an emergency department can also be accompanied by one other person.
In a statement, Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson said "where appropriate", spouses, partners and other significant others could be classed as essential if a patient was critically ill.
"These measures are necessary while we have very high case numbers to ensure that we protect staff and vulnerable patients from COVID-19," he said.
"Please respect our front-line workers who have been asked to enforce these measures and understand that the measures are to protect everyone in the community."
Rules absurd when nightclubs open: AMA WA
But Dr Duncan-Smith said the government needed to change those rules immediately.
"I cannot believe that in the modelling, not allowing a loved one to visit their partner in hospital for a medical condition is going to lead to an increased peak in the face of the fact that nightclubs are still open," he said.
"I call on the McGowan government to correct them immediately so that people who are spouses, partners, first-degree relatives... can actually visit their loved one in hospital."
Dr Duncan-Smith said the fact partners were limited to visiting their significant others only in "specific life-threatening cases" was unacceptable.
Opposition calls for review
The state opposition also criticised the move and called for a more compassionate approach.
"Patients with dementia, where English is their second language, patients whose young children can't visit, and patients who are experiencing extreme distress at this time are being left without proper support," opposition health spokesperson Libby Mettam said.
She said the opposition had heard from people who were vaccinated and were willing to take rapid antigen tests before entering a hospital, but who were being denied the ability to see their loved ones.
"There has been a lack of proportionality when it comes to balancing the COVID risk with compassion and other health concerns," she said.
Rules try to strike balance: Premier
When asked about the restrictions yesterday, Premier Mark McGowan said they were to protect "very, very vulnerable" patients in hospital.
"We're trying to save the lives of people who are patients in hospitals by these measures," he said.
"If we don't do this and people get COVID and die in hospitals, well then people will say, rightfully, 'Why didn't you put rules in?'"
He said it was hoped the rules would only be in place for a month, and were similar to what other states had done.
"We're trying to get the right balance," Mr McGowan said.
NSW rules relaxed following heartbreak
New South Wales recorded 1,742 local cases on the day its health system introduced similar rules on December 16, 2021.
Visitors were limited to those meeting "essential patient needs" and on compassionate grounds, including supporting pregnant women in labour, providing care for children in hospital, or for palliative care.
But those rules were relaxed last month, after a number of tragic stories emerged.
"I'm terribly sorry. I spoke to one of the families... I had tears in my eyes hearing the stories," NSW Premier Dominic Perrotett said at the time.
"I know we need to be cautious, but my view is compassion overrides caution in these instances and I'm working very closely with the health system."
That included one case, reported by the ABC, where a patient was refusing food and medicine the day before her death.
The woman's daughter said a doctor suggested it was time to "make her comfortable" and agreed to seek an exemption to get her family into the hospital.
But that exemption request was denied and the woman died the next day.
