Delays washing linen is causing hospital bed block, union claims

Ramping, bed block and ED queues now have another cause – delays in washing dirty linen due to a private contractor being unable to keep up with demand.

Dirty linen is causing a bed shortage in South Australian hospitals a union claims, with the ripple effect adding to long delays being seen in emergency departments and ambulance ramping.

The United Workers Union says hospitals are “facing a potential shortage of beds following widespread shortages of linen.”

It comes as arrivals at major hospitals this week at times faced an average wait of up to nine hours to be seen, as ED were clogged with patients who had been treated but were waiting for a ward bed to become available.

However Health Minister Chris Picton – who was told of the shortage by a whistleblower at Flinders Medical Centre – says the contractor has put in $300,000 of their own linen to ease the situation.

“As of today we are not seeing the same level of issue we were over previous few days,” he said.

Union officials say the private laundry operator with the SA Health contract can’t keep up with demand and hospital patients need to be prepared to “BYOB – bring your own bedding.”

Union spokeswoman Kimberley Rowney said the linen shortage must be the top priority but in the longer term the government must investigate whether its “reliance on private operators is sustainable.”

“The root of the problem has been an ongoing culture of outsourcing that means many essential services inside hospitals are being run by private providers in the name of seeking lower and lower costs,” Ms Rowney said.

“But in offloading the linen cleaning service, the public ends up ultimately paying the price.

“It is not just happening in laundries, there are heaps of private companies operating within our public hospitals and in the vast majority of cases those private operators are falling short on service delivery.”

Health and Wellbeing Minister Chris Picton. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Mr Picton said there had been some linen supply issues last week but “we are confident supplies have increased substantially.”

“SA Health has been working with the contractor to make sure they step up the supply of linen to make sure we have the supplies we need,” he said. “This has been contracted out for many, many years

“There were clearly issues last week with some supplies not being met in the timeliness we would want.

“We have been working with the supplier and they have committed to putting in place additional linen supplies at their own expense to meet those requirements.”

Ambulances at the Flinders Medical centre, April 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

Mr Picton noted Premier Peter Malinauskas made commitments before the election to review a number of contracts and see whether there was the ability “to do insourcing of those contracts” as they arise. The laundry contract runs until mid 2024.

“We are not a government that supports privatisation,” he said.

“The key factor is what is going to give us the best reliability and how feasible would it be to unscramble that egg of privatisation, in this case it has been privatised for a very long time.”

A SA Health spokeswoman said they are working closely with the contractor to ensure supply is increased to meet changes in demand and to minimise the impact to hospitals.

“A number of effective measures have been put in place and supply has now been improved. These measures will support ongoing supply and ensure demand is met,” she said.

The laundry contractor has been contacted for comment.