31 August 2021
Crushing demand has again forced the Royal Adelaide Hospital and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital to declare internal emergencies after their emergency departments were overwhelmed on Tuesday.
The ‘major incident’ alert included cancelling elective surgery and moving patients to private hospitals, The Advertiser reported.
And despite Flinders Medical Centre’s $8.5 million new emergency department opening last week, which the Government said would remedy ramping, the FMC went into Code White on Monday night, running at overcapacity and with patients left stranded in ambulances in the carpark.
“The health system continues to lunge from crisis to crisis,’’ ANMF (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM said. “This is an embedded systemic issue that requires committed action across the board.
“Emergency capacity is only one part of the hospital capacity crisis. Patients attending the EDs need ongoing places in which to receive the care needed, whether that be hospital beds, operating theatres, mental health community support, aged care or disability services. All of these are in undersupply or difficult, if not impossible, to access,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“We have offered real solutions in our pre-2022 state election Health Policy Position Statement and we have also offered solutions to the current Marshall Government. The time for action is long overdue.’’
For the RAH, it was the third month in a row an internal emergency has been declared. At CALHN things got so bad clinical staff were ordered to attend ward rounds and meetings to review all patients to speed discharge where appropriate, The Advertiser reported.
Staff were also asked to consider any community-based options or alternative care pathways, including treating patients in their own homes.
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