SA Health is advertising for a head of unit for the Royal Adelaide Hospital Emergency Department

It will nab one top doc a pay packet bigger than the Premier’s but with a huge exodus and ramping at a high, will anyone want it?

Arguably the toughest job in SA Health is on offer for up to $620,000 a year plus perks — more than Premier Peter Malinauskas’ $460,000 a year and just behind SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence’s package of $674,977 a year.

SA Health is advertising for a head of unit for the Royal Adelaide Hospital Emergency Department, on a three-year contract on a pay band of $459,691 – $620,068 a year plus “Large Unit Managerial Allowance, Superannuation & Salary Sacrifice Benefits.”

As revealed by The Advertiser, joint RAH ED directors Dr Christopher Hercus and Dr Katrina Romualdez have decided not to renew their contracts for the leadership role but will stay on as consultants with SA Health.

Dr Katrina Romualdez. Picture: Mark Brake

Dr Matthew Wright. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt Photography

Separately, Dr Matthew Wright has decided not to renew his similar position at Flinders Medical Centre but will stay on in SA Health.

The RAH job now being advertised comes amid record ramping, a chronically clogged emergency department and the RAH ED regularly being full of patients who have been treated but are waiting for an appropriate bed.

At midday on Tuesday — in what is a comparatively quiet time — there were 73 patients being treated in the RAH’s 69-capacity ED, 20 people waiting or due to arrive, an average two hour wait to be seen, and 36 patients stuck in the ED who had been treated but were waiting for a ward bed including six waiting more than 24 hours.

The job advertisement notes the RAH is the state’s largest accredited teaching hospital, providing a comprehensive range of the most complex clinical care to an estimated 85,000 inpatients and 400,000 outpatients each year.

“The Emergency Department at RAH is one of the largest and most advanced in Australia, seeing more than 75,000 patients annually,” it states.

“It is the ‘supersite’ for major emergencies in South Australia, such as burns, heart attacks and strokes. It is also the complex multi-trauma destination for the state with senior doctors and experienced nurses.”

SASMOA chief industrial officer, Bernadette Mulholland. Picture: Matt Loxton.

SA Salaried Medical Officers Association chief industrial officer Bernadette Mulholland has noted the job carries enormous stress.

“You are holding all the risk and responsibility, it really does take a toll on your health and wellbeing, and on work-life balance and relationships,” she said.

A safety inspection by SASMOA after complaints by RAH staff about the enormous workload caused by constant ramping and chronically full ED found fatigue, exhaustion and low morale, summed up by one clinician who told inspectors “Staff are f … ing broken.”

This resulted in a SafeWork SA intervention to check management was taking action to safeguard staff mental health and wellbeing under such circumstances.