COVID-19 News & Updates

Albury Wodonga Health (AWH) is currently managing significant access and flow challenges across both the Albury and Wodonga hospital campuses. In response, and in line with our escalation procedures, AWH has taken the formal step of declaring a Code Yellow Internal Emergency at 1800hrs on the 2 June 2025. 

This decision was not made lightly. It reflects our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our patients and staff, and the need for an authorising environment to respond to this period of pressure on emergency and inpatient care areas.

Drivers of the current demand include: 

•  A sustained increase in patient presentations with high clinical acuity. 

• Delays in discharging patients due to limited access to residential and community placement options and other surrounding health services at capacity. 

• Workforce challenges due to illness. 

• Increased demand for emergency and inpatient care due to seasonal illness. 

AWH continues to work in close collaboration with both state ambulance services, neighbouring health services, state health departments and primary care providers to safely manage patient care and support system flow across the region. 

A range of actions have been implemented to help address the immediate challenges, including: 

•  Opening additional care points at both hospitals, where staffing permits. 

• Engaging non-clinical nursing and redeployed staff to support essential care. 

• Prioritising patients who may be safely cared for in alternate settings or in the community. 

• Recalibrating our non-emergency theatre lists to ensure safe post operative care. 

• Ongoing communication with unions and key partners to ensure safe and sustainable workforce practices. 

We acknowledge the extraordinary commitment of our staff, who continue to go above and beyond, to keep patients safe. 

We are calling on our community to support our health service at this critical time: 

•  If your condition is life-threatening, please call 000 or present to the Emergency Department. 

• If your condition is urgent but not life-threatening, please consider alternate services such as: 

• The Victorian Virtual Emergency Department 

• The Priority Primary Care Centre in Wodonga 

• The Border Urgent Care Centre in Albury 

• Nurse On Call: 1300 60 60 24 

We also encourage the community to look after their health this winter - get vaccinated, manage minor illnesses at home, and seek care early through your GP or pharmacy to avoid deterioration. 

We are grateful for the ongoing support of our staff, partners and the community, and remain committed to doing everything we can to ensure patients continue to receive safe, timely and appropriate care during this time of sustained system pressure.