Three helplines support health workers during COVID-19

During the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, Healthdirect Australia, as a government provider of virtual health services, quickly established and continues to manage three new helplines for health workers.

National Coronavirus Helpline

Established as one of the first tools in the Australian Government’s response to COVID-19, the National Coronavirus Helpline (1800 020 080) provides general information and symptom assessment to callers, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The helpline has received more than one million calls since January 2020. While most are from concerned members of the public seeking up-to-date public health information for their symptoms or situation, the helpline also provides a wide variety of clinically useful information for health workers such as COVID-19 testing criteria, personal protective equipment, vaccine status and what to do if a patient tests positive.

The team at Healthdirect work on rostered shifts to update the call handlers on the latest information from authorised sources, including the World Health Organisation, the Communicable Diseases Network Australia and the Australian Department of Health.

Among the many other official sources of information available to health workers, the National Coronavirus Helpline serves as an easy point of reference for the most current information, day and night. We encourage all PHNs to share the availability of this helpline for healthcare professionals.

COVID-19 Health Professionals National Disability Advisory Service

Healthdirect Australia established the COVID-19 Health Professionals National Disability Advisory Service (1800 131 330) on behalf of the Australian Department of Health. This national clinician-to-clinician helpline provides specialised advice for health professionals dealing with people with disability during COVID-19.

Registered nurses and allied health professionals with experience in disability care provide high-quality clinical advice to help reduce risk of COVID-19 infection, outline testing procedures, identify behaviours of concern and deal with management issues associated with hospitalisation. The advisory service was launched as a six-week trial and was recently extended until November 2020.

Thank you to the many PHNs who have helped share the availability of this service with their networks.

Mental health helpline for NSW Health

On behalf of NSW Health, Healthdirect Australia established this confidential helpline staffed by wellbeing support officers with a degree-level qualification in psychology or social work to provide support for NSW Health employees impacted by their work with COVID-19.