Health Minister Jack Snelling promises more beds for female patients and newborns at new Adelaide Women’s Hospital

THE new Adelaide Women’s Hospital will offer an extra 31 beds for women and newborns, Health Minister Jack Snelling has revealed.

THE new Adelaide Women’s Hospital will offer an extra 31 beds for women and newborns, Health Minister Jack Snelling has told The Advertiser.

Mr Snelling was initially coy about the number of beds which would be available at the promised $528 million city hospital, saying only that it would “provide greater capacity”.

Following requests from The Advertiser, Mr Snelling revealed late yesterday that there would be 148 beds for female and newborn patients, up from 117 beds used for the same purposes at the existing Women’s and Children’s Hospital in North Adelaide.

These would cover gynaecological, maternity, mental health and neonatal patients and a “significantly larger” neonatal intensive care unit.

Earlier, during Question Time in Parliament, Mr Snelling repeatedly refused to answer Opposition questions about the number of beds.

The State Government is facing criticism for moving away from its plan, first announced in late 2013, to build a new Women’s and Children’s Hospital next to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Instead, it announced on Tuesday that it will split women’s and children’s health services and build two separate hospitals, starting with the Adelaide Women’s Hospital to open on the new RAH site in 2024.

Health Minister Jack Snelling with Premier Jay Weatherill, announcing funding for the new hospital.

A plan will be developed later for a new Children’s Hospital.

Mr Snelling insisted the decision was not made because the Government did not have enough space on the site or money to build one larger hospital.

Instead he said it would be significantly cheaper to build separately.

“When faced with the choice about what’s the most cost effective way to do this ... it is possible that we could build the whole hospital, women’s and children’s services, on that site but it means we would not also be able to do the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Modbury Hospital, the Lyell McEwin Hospital (upgrades) — all the other health announcements we’ve made (totalling $1.1 billion),” Mr Snelling said yesterday.

“You’d have to choose one or the other.”

The remaining space on the new RAH site, to the west of the hospital building, is bordered by rail lines.

The Government may have had to build over the rail lines — at significantly higher cost — if it were to erect a hospital large enough to offer both women’s and children’s services there.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall has pledged that a Liberal Government would build a women’s and children’s hospital together on the new RAH site.

“We’ve made it very clear, since the Government first announced their intentions for a co-located women’s and children’s hospital, that’s the way to go and that’s what the Liberal Party will deliver,” he said.