South Australian COVID-19 update for customers
As COVID-19 cases continue to grow in South Australia, the State Government has announced new restrictions. Here’s what they mean to our customers.
UPDATE Thursday 26 November
Our South Australian aged care homes have re-opened to visitors, with additional health and safety screening in place. Anyone who wishes to visit a loved one should contact the home directly to book in a time.
Update Tuesday 24 November:
Following the easing of South Australia’s COVID-19 restrictions, all Bupa health insurance, optical and hearing stores have now reopened including our dental practices.
Update Friday 20 November:
South Australia’s COVID-19 restrictions will now be eased from 11:59pm Saturday 21 November. Our health insurance, Optical and Hearing stores will reopen on Monday 23 November.
Update Wednesday 18 November:
South Australia will introduce new COVID-19 restrictions, lasting for at least six days from 11:59pm Wednesday 18 November to help limit the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
As always the health and wellbeing of our customers, residents and employees and the wider community is our priority, and in line with the Government restrictions, there will be some temporary changes to Bupa operations in South Australia.
Health Insurance:
From 5pm Wednesday 19 November, we will temporarily close all of our South Australian health insurance stores for 6 days.
With these stores temporarily closed, we encourage South Australian customers to visit bupa.com.au, the myBupa app or contact us on 134 135 for any enquiries. During this time, we may see more customers calling contact centres as a result of these closures which may lead to short delays at times, we ask for your patience as we respond to customer queries.
Non-emergency Extras services have also been temporarily closed in South Australia, however customers can continue to access and claim on treatments delivered over the telephone or video conferencing for psychology, physiotherapy, speech therapy, counselling, dietetics, occupational therapy, midwifery and exercise physiology.
Dental:
Due to level 5 dental restrictions, all SA Bupa dental practices are currently closed. Patients with acute dental concerns should contact emergency care centres.
For any questions, please contact your relevant dental clinic.
Optical and Hearing:
In line with the South Australian Government announcements, all our South Australian Optical and Hearing stores are temporarily closed but will reopen on Monday 23 November.
Any customers seeking urgent eye and ear care in the interim should attend their local Emergency Department.
Aged Care:
As a precaution, Bupa’s five South Australian-based aged care homes closed to visitors and non-essential contractors from Monday afternoon. Non-essential external trips for residents have also been postponed.
To help protect the health and safety of our residents, all employees are wearing masks, and will continue to comply with strict health disclosure rules, including quarantining if they have attended any high-risk locations as identified by SA Health.
Our care home teams are keeping up with daily activities for residents, facilitating video calls and sharing regular updates with relatives to help keep residents and their loved ones connected during this time.
Visa Medical Services:
We have one Bupa Medical Services Clinic in Adelaide that will remain open, unless otherwise directed by the government. If the clinic is directed to close, we will be in contact with customers directly.
We will continue to share information with our customers and community as the situation evolves. For more information on the COVID-19 situation in South Australia, and the broader restrictions, visit the SA Health website.
