We have been told we are allowed to operate on private elective patients at a level of 50% from this week. We are not entirely sure of the practicalities of this but we will work this out over the coming weeks with the hospitals setting the guidelines on how this will be measured. Unfortunately we are still caught up in the Melbourne covid outbreak as a designated streaming hospital despite in hospital cases falling and despite other regional streaming hospitals being allowed to operate as normal. Looking after covid patients is resource and staff intensive and exhausting for our colleagues so we all understand that there are limitations set. Again this means that Geelong patients in particular are missing out and we again must ask for your patience and understanding whilst we work through these new limitations. The key message remains: get vaccinated ASAP.