Northern Territory Health COVID Response
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we worked with the Northern Territory Government to mobilise clinical teams in regional and remote areas to support Australia’s first purpose-built quarantine facility and accelerate vaccination programs into some of our most vulnerable communities.
Our Regional & Remote Health team worked in partnership with the Northern Territory Department of Health to augment their clinical capability and capacity at the Howard Springs Centre for National Resilience. As the only purpose built quarantine facility in the country, the site became a vital hub when international travel resumed, accommodating arrivals from global COVID hotspots who needed to isolate for 14 days. The Howard Springs CNR housed over 56,000 residents from September 2021 until June 2022. At its peak, the site accommodated up to 2,678 people at any given time, with the campus operating as 13 separate pods.
As the NT’s COVID-19 immunisation program expanded, we rapidly mobilised additional nursing teams to provide a mobile clinical workforce to meet the NT government’s urgent need.
Our nurses worked in partnership with the NT vaccination teams and Aboriginal Health Services at designated vaccination hubs in Darwin, Palmerston and Katherine, to support mass COVID vaccinations across the territory.
Across Darwin, our mobile nursing teams provided vaccination services in shopping centres, suburban streets and the Darwin foreshore to reach the whole community. Our teams built trust with local Indigenous communities and people who were homeless to provide education and reassurance, which contributed to increased vaccination rates and improved community protection against COVID-19. This essential work in providing some of Australia’s most remote and vulnerable communities access to vaccines continued throughout 2021 and into 2022.
As national workforce shortages have impacted public health services, Serco has continued to support to the NT Government with our mobile workforce. Our experienced Specialist Nurses are supporting Emergency Departments, Intensive Care units, Mental Health, Renal Dialysis and Operating Theatre units across the Territory’s four main public hospitals: Royal Darwin, Palmerston Regional, Katherine and Alice Springs Hospitals.
Through our fly-in fly-out service, specialist Renal Dialysis Nurses provide vital patient care that is improving health outcomes and quality of life in the remote Tiwi Islands that would otherwise be inaccessible to patients.