$67.5m budget boost to put more doctors and nurses on weekend shift, speed up hospital discharges

The state budget will have $67.5m to free up hospital beds and ease ramping by having more weekend staff and to speed discharges of suitable aged care and NDIS patients.

Thursday’s budget will have $67.5m to tackle hospital bed block including streamlining weekend discharges and speeding medically-ready aged care and NDIS patients into more appropriate accommodation.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the budget will be a “health and housing budget with a focus on the cost of living.”

This will include the cash to see more efficient patient discharges, in turn freeing up ward beds, unclogging emergency departments and easing ambulance ramping.

An ambulance at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Picture: NCA NewsWire

He noted the health system often is under most strain on Mondays due to patient flow.

“On weekends hospitals struggle to discharge patients,” he said. “Over the course of weekends discharge rates decrease by 40 per cent in comparison to the working week.

“This is because we don’t necessarily have the same medical professionals working on weekends. This will be the single biggest investment in people working on weekends within our hospital system.”

The package will see more than $27m over four years for more doctors, physios, pharmacists, and other staff to work on weekends at metropolitan hospitals.

Hospital discharges at present drop from an average of almost 450 daily discharges Monday to Friday to an average of 270 on Saturdays and Sundays, making Mondays and Tuesdays the busiest days for clogged EDs and for ramping.

Specific staffing and focus areas will be finalised in consultation with staff and unions, however hospital leaders have identified general medicine and geriatric doctors, pharmacists, and allied health professionals like physios as key priorities to speed up discharge times.

The package also will see almost $40m over five years to tackle long stays in hospital for patients waiting NDIS or aged care placements.

On average there are 17 patients occupying major metropolitan hospital beds each weekday who are medically ready for discharge and have a completed aged care assessment, but who are left waiting for an aged care bed.

In addition, there is an average of 73 NDIS patients every day identified as medically ready for discharge but stuck waiting for their NDIS package.

Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Health & Wellbeing Minister Chris Picton. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mr Malinauskas said in its first year his government had recruited an extra 550 clinicians including 89 extra doctors.

“If a patient is well enough to go home on Saturday, and that is appropriate, it doesn’t make sense to make them wait until Monday until they can get home to their loved ones,” he said.

“Having more senior doctors and other clinicians available on the weekend is another sensible, practical measure we can take to help improve flow in hospitals.”

Health Minister Chris Picton noted no-one wants to stay in hospital longer than they need to.

“Once a patient is medically fit to leave it is better for that patient to be home, and better for the next patient who needs that bed,” he said.

“This is importantly about more doctors and more allied health professionals to help these patients across 7-days, not just making the current ones work longer hours.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn said there was a lack of clarity over sourcing the extra staff.

“South Australia is already struggling to attract and retain health staff, with enticing incentives being offered interstate to lure workers across the border,” she said.

“Peter Malinauskas can’t continue to turn a blind eye to this issue and must implement better incentives to not only keep our own frontline health workers but attract the best and brightest to our state as well.”