"Lack of patient and family care"

My parent was at the Peter James Centre operating temporarily out of Box Hill Hospital. In the month that they were there, I was only able to visit once. I was given clearance only to have it taken away the next day because of increasing covid case numbers in Victoria. At the time my clearance was taken away, I was assured by one of the doctors looking after my parent that I would be updated regularly. This was inconsistent. I specifically asked the doctor to see if I could get clearance to visit over a long weekend. I was assured that I would be contacted early the following week. I wasn't. I called to get an update regarding my parent only to be asked by the nurse who answered my call if a doctor had contacted me because my parent had a fall earlier that day. I told the nurse that I hadn't received any phone call and I would appreciate one from one of the doctors regarding this matter. None was forthcoming.

My parent has advanced dementia and as I understand it, is being denied visitors because of a hospital board decision. I have a few serious concerns regarding this decision: I feel this is unethical. How can the hospital be concerned about the fragile mental health of its patients and their families yet refuse visitors? Surely there would be legal issues regarding this stance as well. I would like to know on what grounds are families being prevented from seeing their loved ones? This is complicated by the fact that I believe the current version of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act (2008), which was updated on 12 April 2022, allows patients to have two visitors per day (provided they are fully vaccinated or have returned a negative PCR test or RAT within 24 hours of a scheduled visit). The Act specifically makes provision for dementia patients by stating: "the person's presence at the hospital is for the purposes of providing essential care and support necessary for the patient's immediate emotional or physical wellbeing (including mental health support and support for people living with dementia;" (Clause 13, sub-clause 1a).

With this information in mind, why is the executive board seemingly disregarding government directives and making their own decisions? Furthermore, if the board is going to disregard the government directives, then I feel maybe it should reconsider receiving government funding. After all, they are a public hospital.

I feel this decision needs to be re-considered for the mental health of patients and their families rather than insisting on a decision because the hospital does not want to be inconvenienced, in my opinion.