December 8th, 2021Iso Pod at Springs

SPRINGS Medical Centre in Daylesford has introduced an “Iso Pod” as part of its fight against Covid-19, and any other contagious diseases.

The pod, which is set up for one patient, plus a child if necessary, is sited on land in front of the carpark in Hospital Street.
Clinical Team Leader Lee-anne Potter said the centre’s Covid vaccine working group had looked at long term solutions to keeping potentially Covid positive patients out of the general practice area.
“When the pandemic first kicked off and really nobody knew what we were doing, we had two consulting rooms as isolation rooms at the back of the practice.
“But we realised that was not a long-term sustainable solution. So we sourced the pod and that will be used for any patient deemed infectious, not just Covid. People with cold and flu symptoms, rashes, gastro and other potentially infectious transmissible conditions.
“That protects our staff because they can put on personal protection and equipment if needed, it protects other patients in the waiting rooms and it also provides safety for the greater community.”
Ms Potter said the centre had an allocated appointment book for the pod and patients would be asked to park as close as possible, call the centre and then wait for the doctor to arrive and open the pod.
Once they left, the doctor would clean down the pod, head to the ambulance bay to remove their protective gear, wash up and return to their consulting room.
Ms Potter, pictured above with general manager Emma Wells said the pod had been made extremely private with frosted glass and one-way blinds.
She said Kyneton had its own isolation room and those attending Trentham would be redirected to Daylesford or Kyneton.