Initiatives that focus on managing demand in our hospital emergency departments (EDs) and enhancing care in the community will aim to see tangible results across the State’s public health system in 2020.
This follows a rise in the number of presentations to our public hospital EDs by three per cent during 2018-2019, compared with the previous year.
SA Health Chief Executive, Dr Chris McGowan, said data released today as part of the 2020 Report on Government Services shows more innovative measures are needed to improve the performance of our hospitals.
“Globally, Australia’s health system is ranked second best in the developed world and while we’re a world leader in health care, we need to continue to provide alternative primary care options to reduce the unprecedented demand in our EDs,” Dr McGowan said.
“South Australia is leading the nation in code one ambulance response times, with 90 per cent of ambulances arriving within 19.7 minutes during 2018-19.
“While the report indicates ED wait times declined in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18, we’ve been working with our stakeholders to introduce more care options in the community.
“This includes establishing Priority Care Centres (PCCs), which in their first four months treated more than 1,200 people, and implementing Home Hospital programs that enable suitable patients to be treated at home, saving unnecessary visits to hospital.
“Since the NDIS hospital discharge pilot project and the long stay transition to discharge project began earlier last year, 165 patients with a combined discharge delay of 19,932 days have been discharged from an acute hospital bed to a more appropriate care environment.
“As announced in late 2019, the Southern Health Expansion Plan (SHEP) will begin mid this year, which will boost health services in the south.”
SHEP will increase number of treatment spaces in Flinders Medical Centre’s ED by 30, deliver a new acute facility for people with dementia and complex care needs at the Repat, while Noarlunga Hospital will have enhanced acute capacity and an increasing overnight medical cover.
The Report on Government Services provides comparative data between states and looks at how our health system is tracking across a range of key areas.
Each year the report helps identify which health service areas are doing well and which areas need improvement.
Dr McGowan said this year’s report also highlighted that South Australia has excelled in a number of key areas.
“During 2018-19, child immunisation rates were at an all-time high, and South Australia’s performance was either highest or second highest nationally for cancer screening rates, including breast cancer, bowel cancer, and cervical cancer,” he said.
“With wait times for elective surgery another area mentioned in the report as needing improvement, a $45 million investment is making inroads in reducing overdue waiting lists for elective surgeries.
“Our public hospitals have been working closely with the private sector to perform additional procedures, with the number of South Australians overdue and waiting for elective surgery slashed by more than half since March last year.”
