Adelaide’s hospitals struggling to deal with demand at emergency departments, ambulances ramping

ADELAIDE’S hospitals are struggling to deal with demand as their EDs are overwhelmed with patients, leaving new arrivals facing long delays and being treated in carparks in ambulances.

ADELAIDE’S hospital system is under siege today with public emergency departments well over capacity, chronic ramping and even private hospital EDs full.

At 2.30pm, five of the city’s seven major public hospitals were on Code White, treating more people in their EDs than their capacity.

The Royal Adelaide Hospital was listed on the lower category Code Red, despite treating 74 people in its 71-capacity ED.

In total there were 296 public patients being treated despite the combined metropolitan capacity being just 283.

Another 101 people were waiting to be seen and there were 39 expected arrivals by ambulance and other transport.

Ambulances ramping at Flinders Medical Centre. Another three are out of frame, on the ramp.

Ambulances were forced to queue in carparks at the RAH, Flinders Medical Centre and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, rather than be available for new calls.

The average waiting time for new arrivals in EDs, apart from high priority cases, ranged from 57 minutes at the RAH to 158 minutes at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

FMC had among the worst gridlock. Its 53-capacity ED was treating 62 patients, with 34 more waiting plus 16 expected to arrive.

The logjam was made worse by delays in moving people to ward beds. Across the system there were 52 people who had been treated in EDs who were yet to be moved to wards.

This included 38 at the $2.3 billion RAH. Three of those patients had been waiting more than 24 hours for a ward bed and seven between 12 and 24 hours.