Delay urged for Transforming Health changes, as clinical trials pledged at new Royal Adelaide Hospital
THE Opposition is demanding Transforming Health’s “high risk” changes be put on hold until the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is open and running properly.
THE Opposition is demanding that the State Government suspend its “high risk” Transforming Health changes until the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is open and operating well.
The push comes as the State Government announced on Thursday that all clinical trials at the current RAH will move to the new site or the adjacent South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute when the new hospital opens next year.
After heated debate and questioning over whether there is room at the new hospital for clinical trials to test vital new drugs and treatment, Health Minister Jack Snelling has assured patients — and South Australians — that no trials will be compromised when the nRAH opens.
Consultation with research and administration staff about the requirements for the trials has resulted in the guarantee that all face-to-face patient consultations will continue to occur in the outpatient, inpatient or day treatment areas, as they do at the current RAH.
“Having all our current clinical trials based in the heart of the health and biomedical precinct, with the majority at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, is an excellent outcome,” Mr Snelling said.
“These important trials will deliver potentially lifesaving medical breakthroughs for many years to come.”
The new RAH’s activation executive director, Paul Lambert, said: “We have been able to allocate space for nearly all researchers within the new RAH, with a small number utilising space in the SAHMRI next door.”
He said there had been “great progress and great cooperation” with the researchers to finalise plans for the move.
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said he would be “very keen to hear from the clinicians” about the government’s latest “solution”.
“The government has been deaf to the concerns of clinicians for years. I won’t be taking the government’s word for the fact a solution has been found,” he said.
Australian Medical Association (SA) president Dr Janice Fletcher welcomed the announcement because “clinical research was vital for the future health of the hospital and the public health”.
“It will ensure high-quality medical researchers and doctors come to and stay in this state. We need to retain our excellent medical brains here in SA to treat our community,” she said.
“The need for clinical research to continue uninterrupted by the relocation has been a longstanding area of concern and advocacy for the AMA(SA).”
Dr Fletcher said the AMA would “hold the government to account to make sure it delivers on its promise”.
Also on Thursday, Mr Wade demanded the government back down on its major health overhaul until the new RAH opens next year.
“Today the hospital is more than seven months beyond its original completion date, $640 million over budget and the Weatherill Government is in court fighting with SA Health Partnerships about who will pay for the raft of problems that have plagued the project,” he said.
Mr Snelling hit back at the suggestion, saying Mr Wade has “got to be joking”.
“What a lazy, do-nothing Opposition the Liberal Party in South Australia are. We’ve seen significant improvements in patient care through Transforming Health,” he said.