Hospital pass: New RAH misses first formal deadline

CONSTRUCTION of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital today will miss its first formal deadline, with the original date promised for technical completion having been pushed back into 2016.

CONSTRUCTION of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital today will miss its first formal deadline, with the original date promised for technical completion having been pushed back to April.

An Auditor-General’s report released last year says January 18 was supposed to be the day when finishing touches were placed on the hospital before keys were handed over.

The Government confirmed in September it now expects to take full control of the site in July, before opening the hospital in November after the busy flu season has ended.

Health Minister Jack Snelling says the revised building timetable followed extensive discussions with the SA Health Partnership construction consortium, government staff and unions.

He said clinical advice concluded it would not be safe to move to the new hospital, including shifting patients and expensive heavy machinery, during the busy winter period.

The Government was forced to pay the consortium an extra $34 million last year in a settlement to resolve a dispute over remediation, site modifications and the new time frame.

A work in progress. The technical finish date for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital has been pushed back from January, to April, 2016. Picture: Stephen Laffer

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said the “the massive cost blowout” at the hospital was part of the cause for cutbacks at others, including Noarlunga and the Repatriation General Hospital.

It comes as prominent Transforming Health critic and Flinders University academic Warren Jones raises fears of a blowout in the cost of consultants employed to aid that systemic reform.

Consultants engaged at taxpayer expense to provide expert advice to Transforming Health have included McKinsey and Company, Deloitte and Ernst and Young.

The costs are not being revealed for commercial in-confidence reasons.

SA Health chief executive David Swan said the entire program was running within its allocated budget and flatly rejected a claim from Prof Jones that consultancy fees may reach $100 million.

Mr Swan said the $100 million claim was “unsubstantiated”.

The Government says Transforming Health is the largest health reform seen in this state and requires expertise not ordinarily found in a government department.

Prof Jones said a large department like health should be able to manage its own operations without looking to expensive consultants.

Weight for new MRI scanners pays off

THE Health Department has gone to great lengths — and heights — to ensure that patients needing MRI scans at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital will benefit from the latest technology.

The last of three machines, weighing a hefty 7.5 tonnes, was lifted into place on Level 5 of the new hospital yesterday.

Imaging campus operations manager, Michael Consalvo said the new scanners had the very latest technology which would provide information to radiologists that would allow for a more accurate diagnosis.

“The 3 Tesla MRI machine has applications such as spectroscopy which enable us to gather more information on the type of tumour and aggressiveness of tumour,’’ he said. “They also have tractography which is used for pre-operative planning for brain tumours and for vascular malformations.’’

“It’s also got functional MRI capabilities which can do things such as map blood flows in the brain and all this information gives radiologists the opportunity to come up with the most accurate diagnosis.’’

The other two machines are an outpatients unit on Level 3 and an emergency department unit on Level 2. Later in the year, a fourth machine will be installed on Level 3 and if required, a fifth machine would be purchased.

Last year, Health Minister Jack Snelling said completion of the new hospital had been delayed until July this year, and the move from the current hospital has been rescheduled to occur by November. - Martina Simos