BALLARAT Health Services has confirmed it continually works to ensure there are sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment for all its staff to safely undertake work.
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This comes as a survey from Royal Australasian College of Physicians found 20 per cent of its members in public hospitals were forced to source their own PPE.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday said there might need to be improvements in getting protections to health workers but there were no issues with availability in the state.
There were 1065 active coronavirus cases among Victorian healthcare workers on Monday and a total of 1835 healthcare workers had contracted COVID-19.
In a statement, BHS confirmed there was enough necessary PPE for its staff: "The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is increasingly important for the protection of our staff, patients, and residents...Ballarat Health Services encourages the community to be responsible in their use of PPE [like masks] to help stop the spread of COVID-19".
Australian Society of Anaesthetists has also repeatedly questioned whether hospitals go far enough to protect staff, highlighting a need of "fit-testing" PPE so virus particles cannot penetrate clinicians' safety gear.
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