State-of-the-art operating theatres and a new MRI machine are now fully installed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s brand-new clinical services building.
This milestone lands as Premier Peter Malinauskas and his counterparts meet the Prime Minister in Canberra today, with health reform South Australia’s top priority.
The Premier is today advocating for the Federal Government to provide its fair share of hospital funding, fix the blockages in aged care that take up over 100 beds in SA public hospitals and address the shortages of bulk billing GPs.
In 2011 Julia Gillard agreed to provide 50 per cent of growth of hospital costs – yet 12 years later the Federal share of hospital funding in SA is only 38 per cent.
At the same time the issues in the other parts of the health system run by the Federal Government – GPs and aged care – are putting significant pressure on public hospitals right around the country.
In contrast the State Government is doing everything possible – spending $4.3 billion extra to address the issues in the health system.
The QEH build will boost hospital bed capacity with its dedicated 52-bed rehabilitation facility. A larger Emergency Department will increase capacity to 46 bays as well as up to 14 beds in its Intensive Care Unit, plus 12 new theatres with recovery areas, with construction scheduled to be complete by mid-2024.
These extra beds at the QEH will be pivotal in reducing pressure on our hospitals, with 150 additional beds opening across our system in the next 12 months.
The need for these upgrades is highlighted by the fact ambulances spent a total of 4,285 hours on the ramp in November, compared to 3,322 hours in October.
A lack of capacity, increase in COVID patients, COVID workforce pressures and performance issues with the Sunrise Electronic Medical Records system put extra strain on the hospital system in November with ramping increasing.
These issues combined to break the trend of the previous six months each being better than the same time the year before.
Despite this, the percentage of ambulance patients that were transferred into hospital within the 30 minute target was still over eight per cent higher than March this year (44.2 per cent compared to 35.7 per cent).
Response times are still better than they were at the same time last year, with 61.8 per cent of Priority 1 calls reached within the target timeframe of 8 minutes – exceeding the benchmark of 60 per cent.
For Priority 2 response times, 53.5 per cent of cases were reached on time, also better than the same time last year.
Transfer of Care data – including a hospital-by-hospital breakdown – and ambulance response times can be found here.
The hospital Sunrise EMR system experienced a number of problems in November, including system interruptions and slowness, impacting clinicians’ efficiency, particularly in our EDs.
SA Health analysis shows that ramping is worse when there are interruptions to the EMR system, with a 36% increase on the average transfer of care time per day on days with EMR interruptions compared with days without EMR interruptions.
A new clinical group led by Southern Adelaide Local Health Network CEO Kerrie Freeman has been tasked with urgently identifying ways to improve EMR performance in our emergency departments.
The work will involve clinicians who have firsthand experience using the EMR system and will focus on identifying how to make it more efficient.
During 2024 the State Government will open the following additional beds:
* 48 new beds at Lyell McEwin Hospital
*20 fast-tracked beds at Flinders Medical Centre
*32 new beds at the Repat
* 52 rehabilitation beds at the QEH
*15 extra beds in the new QEH Emergency Department
* 10 extra beds at the Gawler Emergency Department
* 20 hospital in the home mental health beds
* 12 residential drug rehabilitation beds
As put by Chris Picton
The new QEH building will be one of a number of landmark capacity improvements to come in our health system next year to address the pressure it is under.
State-of-the-art operating theatres are now installed in the new Clinical Services Building plus a new MRI machine. The final stage of the fit-out will occur in the new year as we prepare the big move of services into these brand-new facilities mid-year.
The Malinauskas Labor Government is throwing the kitchen sink at investments into our public hospitals and extra beds – but like all other states we are seeking the Federal Government to also do its share to reduce pressure on patients.
State governments around the country are facing the triple whammy of the GP crisis leading to sicker patients, aged care blockages keeping people in hospital and federal funding not keeping pace.
We will continue to do everything we possibly can to expand the capacity of our hospitals, build new beds, hire more doctors and nurses, and address the inefficiencies we face like issues with the Sunrise EMR system.
As put by Central Adelaide Local Health Network Executive Director of Operations and Performance Rachael Kay
This milestone at the QEH comes after years of planning and consultation with consumers and clinicians. We look forward to the next six months as the new building commissioning commences and we begin training and readiness activities with staff.
The design of the building is centred around creating a welcoming environment with lots of natural light and access to multiple outdoor spaces to promote health and wellbeing.
Engagement with clinicians and the community has been at the forefront of all planning and design of the new building to ensure the redevelopment reflects the needs of the community now and into the future.
