29
March
2021
|
19:06
Australia/Melbourne

COVID-19 update for our Queensland customers

Summary

The Queensland Government has confirmed the Greater Brisbane area will enter a three-day lockdown from 5.00pm Monday 29 March due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.

UPDATED Monday 29 March 7:00pm

Health insurance customers

Following the Queensland government’s decision to introduce a three-day lockdown in Greater Brisbane, we will temporarily close our Health Insurance stores in Brisbane CBD, Carindale, Chermside, Sunnybank, Indooroopilly and Garden City from Tuesday 30 March until Tuesday 6 April.

Health Insurance customers who are unable to visit a Bupa Health Insurance store are encouraged to contact us on 134 135 or visit bupa.com.au for any enquiries. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen an increase in customers calling contact centres. This is leading to short delays at times and we ask for your patience as we respond to customer queries.

Optical and Hearing customers

Optical and Hearing stores in the Greater Brisbane area (Chermside, Indooroopilly, Adelaide St, Mount Gravatt and Carindale) will remain open for urgent eye care and by appointment only, with no browsing customers allowed.

Customers with existing appointments up to Thursday 1 April or with pending collections will be contacted to discuss their specific circumstances.

Aged care visitors

In line with new Queensland Government directions, and to help protect the health and safety of our residents and employees, we have temporarily closed our Queensland aged care homes to visitors. There will be some compassionate exceptions, so we encourage people to check in with the care home directly to discuss their specific circumstances.

We know these restrictions can be difficult for our residents and their loved ones and we are continuing to arrange video and phone calls to make sure they can stay in touch. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and keep our residents and their families updated.

Bupa Medical Visa Services

We will temporarily close our Bupa Medical Visa Services Brisbane Medical Assessment Centre from 5.00pm today Monday 29 March until Tuesday 6 April.

Customers who either require or have booked a visa medical examination during this time, please refer to our Bupa Medical Visa Services website for the latest updates.

Dental customers

On advice from the Australian Dental Association Queensland branch, patients can only visit Bupa dental practices for limited emergency dental treatments from Tuesday 30 March. If you have an appointment booked in the coming days or require emergency treatment, please speak to your practice directly.

COVID-19 update for our Victorian customers

UPDATED Wednesday 17 February 6:00pm

To help us continue to protect the health and safety of our customers and employees, please do not visit our stores, clinics or aged care homes, if you:

  • Have had contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19;
  • Have arrived in Australia from overseas in the last 14 days; or
  • Are feeling unwell with flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat

Read more about the reopening measures in each of our businesses below:

Health Insurance and Optical and Hearing

We will reopen our temporarily closed Victorian Health Insurance and Optical and Hearing stores from Thursday 18 February with COVID-19 safety protocols in place.

To help us protect the health and safety of our customers and employees, please do not visit our stores if you:

  • Have had contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19;
  • Have arrived in Australia from overseas in the last 14 days; or
  • Are feeling unwell with flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat.

Health Insurance customers who are unable to visit a Bupa Health Insurance store are encouraged to contact us on 134 135 or visit bupa.com.au for any enquiries.

Optical customers can also purchase our full range of contact lenses online, as well as selected sunglasses and prescription glasses. Visit our Bupa Optical website.

Dental

For our Bupa Dental patients, we’re open again and able to take appointments for all your dental care needs.

We continue to operate with safety measures to help minimise the risk of COVID-19 exposure within our dental practices. These include:

  • Standard infection control procedures to reduce the spread of any infection;
  • The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for all treatments such as standard level 2 surgical masks, protective eyewear and gloves;
  • Strengthened cleaning procedures, including actively promoting the regular use of antibacterial hand sanitiser and surface wipes;
  • Stringent personal hygiene measures for our people;
  • Requesting patients reschedule their appointment if they are or have recently been unwell, or are experiencing any flu-like symptoms; and
  • Touch-free temperature checks for our patients.

If you have an enquiry, please call your local Bupa Dental practice.

Bupa Medical Visa Services

We will reopen our Bupa Medical Visa Services’ Melbourne centres and regional Victorian partner clinics.

Our safety and physical distancing measures continue to ensure we can provide a safe and hygienic environment. Please visit the Home Affairs website for more information or your Visa Processing Officer.

Bupa Aged Care

From midnight tonight our Victorian care homes will open for limited visitation.

Visitors from the one household can now visit their loved one, once a day. Individual exemptions may be granted by each care home General Manager, on a case by case basis.

Our team will continue to closely monitor the health of our residents and screen all team members and visitors for high temperatures, prior to entry. All employees will continue to wear surgical masks and eye protection at all times while in the home.

UPDATED Friday 12 February 5:00pm

Health insurance, Optical and Hearing customers

Following the Victorian government’s decision to reintroduce five-day Stage 4 restrictions to Victoria, we will temporarily close all of our Health Insurance stores in Victoria until Thursday 18 February.

Health Insurance customers who are unable to visit a Bupa Health Insurance store are encouraged to contact us on 134 135 or visit bupa.com.au for any enquiries. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen an increase in customers calling contact centres. This is leading to short delays at times and we ask for your patience as we respond to customer queries.

A limited number of Optical and Hearing stores will remain open for urgent eye care and by appointment only, these are:

  • Bourke St
  • Werribee
  • Camberwell

Customers with existing appointments up to Wednesday 17 February or with pending collections will be contacted to discuss their specific circumstances.

Customers can also purchase our full range of contact lenses online, as well as selected sunglasses and prescription glasses at our Bupa Optical website.

As the situation evolves, we will keep you updated if the list of open stores changes.

Aged care visitors

In line with new Victorian Government directions, and to help protect the health and safety of our residents and employees, we will temporarily close all our Victorian aged care homes to visitors from Saturday 13 February. There will be some compassionate exceptions, so we encourage people to check in with the care home directly to discuss their specific circumstances.

We know these restrictions can be difficult for our residents and their loved ones, and we are continuing to facilitate video and phone calls to make sure they can stay in touch during this challenging time. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and government advice and keep our residents and their families updated.

Bupa Medical Visa Services

We will temporarily close our Bupa Medical Visa Services Melbourne centres and regional Victorian partner clinics, from COB today Friday 12 February until at least Thursday 18 February

All bookings from Saturday 13 February until at least Wednesday 17 February (inclusive) will be cancelled, and will need to be rescheduled.

Customers who either require or have booked a visa medical examination, please refer to our Bupa Medical Visa Services website for the latest updates.

Dental customers

On advice from the Australian Dental Association Victorian branch, patients can only visit Bupa dental practices for limited emergency dental treatments from Saturday 13 December. If you have an appointment booked in the coming days or require emergency treatment, please speak to your practice directly.

 

UPDATED Monday 20 October 3:00pm

Reopening of Bupa Medical Visa Services in Victoria

Bupa Medical Visa Servicestwo Melbourne centres, and our Victorian regional partner clinics, reopened on Monday 28 September

Please visit the Home Affairs website for more information or your Visa Processing Officer.

Victorian customers

From Monday 5 October we commenced a two-phased approach to reopening our Victorian Health Insurance retail stores.  

The first phase of Bupa's Victorian Health Insurance store reopenings will begin in Regional Victoria with three stores opening on Monday 5 October:

  • Geelong
  • Bendigo
  • Ballarat 

Melbourne metropolitan retails stores will reopen on Thursday 5 November.

All of our Victorian Optical & Hearing stores in Victoria are open for appointments and walk-ins.

We continue to monitor the situation in line with Government and clinical advice. As the situation evolves, we will keep you updated if the list of open stores changes.

Customers outside Victoria

The majority of our Health Insurance stores, dental clinics and Optical & Hearing stores have re-opened with strict infection control measures.

To help us protect the health and safety of our customers and employees, please do not visit our stores, practices or care homes if you:

  • Have had contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19;
  • Have arrived in Australia from overseas in the last 14 days; or
  • Are feeling unwell with flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat.

Read more about the measures we’re taking to help our customers in each of our businesses below.

Health Insurance

To ensure the safety of our customers and employees in our stores, we are implementing strict hygiene and social distancing measures. Updates on store openings and operating hours can be found here.

Customers who are unable to visit a Bupa Health Insurance store are encouraged to contact us on 134 135 or visit bupa.com.au for any enquiries.

Throughout the pandemic, we have seen an increase in customers calling contact centres. This is leading to short delays at times and we ask for your patience as we respond to customer queries.

We are also deferring the October 1 premium increase for customers on JobSeeker and JobKeeper for 6 months (read more here) and will be providing more than $50m in assistance for customers suffering financial hardship due to COVID-19 (read more here). All Bupa customers with a hospital policy will be covered for COVID-19 related claims, irrespective of the terms of that policy (read more here).

Aged Care

We are very mindful of the need to take every possible step to protect our aged care residents from COVID-19. We have strong infection control measures in place across all our care homes and have introduced rules in each state to help protect the safety of our residents and employees. Read the latest Bupa Aged Care updates here.

We also want to help our residents feel connected during this time. See how you and your family can get involved by sending letters and pictures to our residents here.

Dental

For our Bupa Dental patients, we’re open and able to take appointments for all your dental care needs.

We have introduced a number of safety measures to help minimise the risk of COVID-19 exposure within our dental practices. These include:

  • Standard infection control procedures to reduce the spread of any infection;
  • The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for all treatments such as standard level 2 surgical masks, protective eyewear and gloves;
  • Strengthened cleaning procedures, including actively promoting the regular use of antibacterial hand sanitiser and surface wipes;
  • Stringent personal hygiene measures for our people;
  • Requesting patients reschedule their appointment if they are or have recently been unwell, or are experiencing any flu-like symptoms; and
  • Touch-free temperature checks for our patients.

If you have an enquiry, please call your local Bupa Dental practice.

Optical & Hearing

For our Bupa Optical & Hearing customers, our stores are open again across all states.

We have increased our cleaning and hygiene measures to help ensure all of our open stores are safe for you and our team, including:

  • Hand sanitiser;
  • 1.5 metre physical distancing;
  • Limited customers in store; and
  • Increased cleaning.

Find out more about our locations here. Customers can also purchase our full range of contact lenses online, as well as selected sunglasses and prescription glasses. Visit our Bupa Optical website.

Where can I find out the latest Government information?

The Australian Government’s Department of Health and the New Zealand Government’s Ministry of Health are the best places to get the latest information on the coronavirus, and information on testing.

Media reference number: 20/073