3 May 2021
As of 8am this morning, there were 8 mental health patients who each had been waiting in the Royal Adelaide Hospital emergency department for a bed for more than 60 hours.
“Today Adelaide’s dangerously over-stretched hospital system continues to set disastrous records, with an unprecedented 139 people waiting for a bed in emergency departments across the city this morning,” ANMF (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM said.
“At the RAH alone there were 64 people waiting for a bed at the RAH this morning, 16 for more than 24 hours. This is simply unacceptable.
“We don’t know what needs to happen to spur the Marshall Government into action. People’s lives and wellbeing are being put at risk every day,” Ms Dabars said.
This disastrous new figure comes off the back of last week’s extremely disappointing mental health workshop with the Health Minister Stephen Wade, which appeared to achieve very little in terms of outcome, commitment and time frame.
“The number of people with mental health care needs presenting to emergency departments urgently needs addressing,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“Emergency departments simply cannot adequately provide the care they need. The other consequence, of course, is that it just adds to the enormous pressure on a system that simply isn’t able to cope with the overwhelming demand.”
Ms Dabars, former executive director of mental health and prison health services at CALHN Adjunct Professor John Mendoza, the Australian Medical Association and other leading advocates for mental health care last week wrote a joint letter to Health Minister Stephen Wade expressing their disappointment with the workshop and requesting an urgent meeting to outline the measures that must be taken to address the state’s health crisis.
“The waiting times are a very real danger to the lives of patients. The crushing burden on our hospital system is resulting in missed and delayed care,” Ms Dabars said.
“The health system in this state has never been sicker. The Health Minister and the Marshall Government simply must act now before lives are lost.”
See our response to the Health Minister's mental health plan which was announced this week:
Our response to the Health Minister's mental health plan