Five hour waits in hospital EDs as temperature heads towards 40C

Major hospital EDs are full as the temperature rises, with wait times for up to five hours and dozens of people treated but stuck waiting for a ward bed, creating a logjam.

Hot weather has fuelled a surge of patients at major public hospital emergency departments which saw all adult facilities on Code White — treating more patients than their official capacity — on Tuesday with wait times of up to five hours to be seen during the day.

With a forecast high of 40C in Adelaide, frontline clinical staff were dealing with a steady flow of arrivals and ambulances were yet again ramped.

By 4pm six of seven metropolitan hospitals were dealing with more patients that official capacity, with only the Women’s and Children’s having 11 children in its 35 capacity ED.

Lyell McEwin Hospital at one stage on Tuesday had an average wait time of 310 minutes to be seen.

At Modbury Hospital the wait time at one stage was 274 minutes while people arriving at the Royal Adelaide, Noarlunga and Queen Elizabeth hospitals faced around a two hour wait, and one hour at Flinders Medical Centre.

Bed block was again a major problem clogging EDs.

There were 90 people in EDs who had been treated but were waiting for a suitable ward bed at 4pm.

The biggest blockage was at the RAH. It had 76 people in its 69-capacity ED but 38 of these had been treated and were waiting for ward beds. That was an improvement on earlier in the day when there were 51 patients treated but waiting for somewhere to go as ambulance crowded the carpark trying to unload people.

Five people had been warehoused in the RAH ED for more than 24 hours and nine had been waiting for between 12 and 24 hours by mid-afternoon.

SA Health released a statement saying: “A number of factors including the long weekend, Covid-19 and the hot weather are contributing to busier than usual demand in our emergency departments.

“We are utilising all available treatment spaces to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible. As always, patients are triaged with the most sick patients being treated first.”

The public sector clinicians’ union was not impressed, saying they had never seen a Christmas like this before with hospitals under pressure.

Never seen Christmas period like this before - was once a time where the health system got an opportunity to decompress - All hospitals under pressure. pic.twitter.com/BXArqlOsYU

— SASMOA (@sasmoa4doctors) December 27, 2022

The heat is predicted to ease on Wednesday with a maximum of 24C forecast in Adelaide and the same for Thursday before warming up to 27C on Friday then 30C on New Year’s Eve and 33C on New Year’s Day.

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

Covid continues to add pressure om the health system with 10,474 cases reported in the past week, a slight dip from the 10,754 the previous week as authorities cautiously suggest the peak of the latest wave has passed.

SA has now recorded 853,367 cases and 1144 deaths.

Currently 96.6 per cent of eligible South Australians aged 12 and over have received their first dose of the vaccine and 94.6 per cent have received their second dose. Boosters have been administered to 75.6 per cent of eligible South Australians and 71.7 per cent of South Australians aged 16 and over.

RSPCA South Australia urged animal owners to take extra precautions with shelter and water including a warning to not have dogs on the trays of utes or trucks and not walks dogs in the heat of the day.

“If you cannot hold the back of your hand on the surface for five seconds, then it is too hot for your dog’s paws,” they noted.

RSPCA South Australia is also encouraging people to support wildlife through the heat by placing shallow bowls of fresh, clean water in shady locations. If using a large container, place a rock in the water so small animals can climb out.

Also fill bird baths and consider having a sprinkler turned on during the heat of the day to enable birds to cool down.

Livestock transporters should be aware of national welfare laws governing movement of livestock. Details can be found at www.animalwelfarestandards.net.au/land-transport.

Anyone noticing animals suffering from heat stress and dehydration is urged to call RSPCA South Australia’s 24-hour hotline on 1300 4 777 22.