Dear Patient,

Peter Mac is working closely with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to keep safe and protect our patients and their families & carers, visitors and health care workers from COVID-19.

Our hospital remains open and fully functional with the appropriate safeguards and containment precautions in place.

From Wednesday March 25, all patients, visitors and contractors will be temperature checked and asked a series of screening questions upon entry to the building. This new measure is in line with hospitals across Victoria. 

Patients should allow extra time before their appointment to pass through the screening checks. 

Patients:

  • If you are currently receiving cancer treatment at Peter Mac and you begin to feel unwell and develop a fever, shortness of breath, a cough, or other respiratory symptoms please contact your treating team and we will direct you to the most appropriate place of care.  
  • If you have arrived home from international travel in the last 14 days or have come into close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 infection and are unwell you should seek immediate medical attention.  Call ahead to your GP or closest emergency department and mention your overseas travel before you arrive so they can prepare appropriate infection control measures.  You can also seek further advice from the COVID-19 hotline on 1800 675 398.
  • If you have serious symptoms such as difficulty breathing – call 000 and ask for an ambulance.

The clinical teams at Peter Mac are currently working to move review and non-urgent appointments to minimise the number of patients who have to come into hospital every day.  You may receive notification of appointment changes over the coming weeks or a request to change it to a telehealth appointment. 

Visitors:

For the safety of our patients and staff please DO NOT visit a Peter Mac site if you have a fever, cough, sore throat or shortness of breath or have been overseas in the last 14 days. To provide additional safeguards for our patients, we ask that visitors be limited in number to 1 per patient at any one time.

Please remember at this point if you have not travelled to affected areas overseas or have not been in direct contact with anyone who has visited the affected areas overseas, there is very little risk of infection.

If you would like more information please visit www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus

Questions?

Peter Mac is experiencing a high volume of calls so we're working with Cancer Council Australia’s Information and Support line to ensure we can best support our patients and families.

If you are a patient who is not currently on active treatment, and you have concerns about COVID-19, please call:

CCA's Information and Support nurses on 13 11 20

Or email [email protected] who can assist you further in the first instance. 

Please note the CCA's Information and Support Service is open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

You can also call the 24-hour Victorian Hotline on 1800 675 398 or the National Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080.

Patients on active treatment at Peter Mac. 

If you are a patient on active treatment, or caring for someone who is, and you are experiencing symptoms or concerns, please call and speak to your treating team.