Northwest Health Clinic monitors 500 COVID cases as Tamworth's Tamara hospital prepares to restart non-urgent elective surgery

The Northwest Health Clinic, which helps take care of low-acuity coronavirus patients, is still conducting as much business as it can over the phone or internet. Most patients aren't allowed into the clinic.

Northwest Health GP Ian Kamerman said a large number of positive cases get picked up at their respiratory clinic on Goonoo Goonoo Road.

From there they are likely to be managed by a GP clinic. If a case is very serious it can be escalated to NSW Health, but that's quite rare, he said.

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"It is certainly quite a reasonable amount of work [to cover 500 people]," he said.

"We've got dedicated staff that provide care. Thankfully most people do have mild illness and consequently don't need a significant amount of follow up. Those that do - and certainly those with underlying health condition or who are unvaccinated - they're followed up much more closely."

Health minister Brad Hazzard announced on Tuesday that restrictions on non-urgent elective surgery will be eased next week.

The ban was imposed just a month ago, in response to the huge spike in cases during the Omicron wave at Christmas time.

Tamara Private Hospital CEO Patricia Thornberry said the hospital will be back to 75 per cent of its usual capacity next week.

"This announcement means patients can now finally make plans to undergo their procedures, which can be life-changing for many people," she said.

The hospital doesn't have a waiting list, but will have to work with its surgeons to ensure they have as much theatre time as possible to clear what she said was a "significant backlog of surgeries in the public health sector".

Just 12,818 new cases were reported in yesterday's coronavirus numbers, down from over 30,000 at the peak of the Omicron wave.

Mr Hazzard apologised to people who had been forced to delay surgery.

"It was in your interests, it was in the interests of the entire community that we made sure we had the space in our hospitals," he said.

He urged parents to get their children vaccinated "as quickly as possible".

Dr Kamerman said the clinic had done its best to keep its waiting room as empty as possible during the latest wave of the pandemic.

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Not only does the practice protect patients, it prevents the entire clinic getting the virus all at once at work, keeping them in action.

"I know some of my colleagues are screening patients with rapid antigen tests. Myself, I don't believe it's sensitive enough I think you'd have too many false negatives [plus] it'd be incredibly expensive for patients.

"It's much easier and much safer to do it by telehealth until this wave settles right down again."

Most face-to-face care at the moment is for vaccinations, he said, but they will also allow in patients who have been assessed as needing to be seen in person for a medical reason.

He said the telehealth model is probably here to stay, but will be turned up or down depending on prevalence of COVID-19 locally.

Non-urgent elective surgery will reopen on February 7.

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