The frontline of Victorian COVID-19 testing

The frontline of COVID-19 testing

At the end of June 2020, DPV Health was asked to support the pandemic response with community-based COVID-19 testing services.

It started with a single COVID-testing bus moving between high-risk exposure sites in Melbourne’s northern suburbs — and later expanded to include a fixed site at Mernda Train Station, one of Victoria’s busiest community based testing sites.

DPV Health has also protected our community through the Rapid Response Testing Program as part of a consortium that includes IPC Health, Star Health, EACH and CoHealth. Our role in this program put us on the frontline of COVID testing across Victoria, delivering agile mobile testing programs across a range of locations including social housing, manufacturing locations, airports and people’s homes. Sometimes with only 2 hours’ notice, our Rapid Response testing team has been a key contributor to the control of outbreaks across metro Melbourne and regional locations such as Mildura and Shepparton.

Engaging with the community has been key to our Rapid Response approach. The Community Engagement Team works alongside the Rapid Testing Team to provide information and answer questions about COVID testing and vaccination for our diverse communities.

Across all COVID testing programs, our teams have worked hard to keep the community safe. They provide ongoing access to testing services over weekends and holidays, connecting the community with up-to-date information and testing support. During the June 2021 outbreak, one local community returned to the testing site to show their appreciation for the GP and clinical team that supported them.

Since commencing COVID testing in 2020, DPV Health has conducted over 100,000 tests across Victoria.

COVID-19 total tested

114,682 in total

91,277

Mernda Clinic

19,632

RRTT

3,382

Mobile Bus

158

Medical Centre BM

233

Medical Centre

High-risk response

The High-Risk Accommodation Response (HRAR) team supports residents in public and community housing and rooming houses across Hume, Whittlesea, and Nillumbik.

As part of the initiative, we distributed over 3,000 information and care packages this year and connected personally with more than 1,300 residents and accommodation owners. We offered much needed supports during COVID outbreaks, especially to community members who were required to selfisolate, making sure they still had access to life’s necessities.