Massive job of moving into new Royal Adelaide Hospital ahead of schedule

A NASA-style control room, treasure hunts and 1000 pallets of equipment delivered so far — be thankful you’re not one of the people in charge of the massive logistical exercise of moving into the new RAH.

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A NASA-style control room, treasure hunts and 1000 pallets of equipment delivered so far — the massive logistical exercise of shifting into the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is ahead of schedule, according to SA Health.

Since commencing the 90-day Facility Transition Period, following technical completion of the nRAH on March 15, a logistics team has been overseeing the colossal shift into the huge building.

This includes moving tonnes of equipment and bussing in about 200 people a day — eventually 7000 in total — for orientation tours.

An empty hospital bed at the new RAH’s in-patient ward. Picture: Tricia Watkinson.

Doctors, nurses and allied health workers, as well as administration staff, are being given initial tours to find their way around the huge complex, which will be followed by more intensive visits to become familiar with their work areas prior to dealing with patients.

About 40 training team leaders who are now guiding newcomers around the building have been sent on “treasure hunts” in their own training in the past three weeks — given a room number then sent off to find it as efficiently as possible and record what is in the room as proof they found it.

Staff are being bussed in for the orientation sessions as a safety precaution, as the site still belongs to the builder so all staff need to be accounted for, including when they leave.

So far, more than 1000 pallets of equipment have been delivered, with at least that amount still to come.

Wraps come off the new RAH

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However, the hospital will not be fully equipped until the existing RAH closes and equipment such as MRI and PET scanners are shifted up North Tce.

About 80 per cent of the equipment in the nRAH will be new and 20 per cent sourced from the RAH.

Equipment assembled and installed so far includes clinical equipment such as heart rate monitors and lung function machines through to phones, desktop computers and mobile work stations — which have to be hooked up to the hospital’s IT system and tested.

If all goes well, the project will reach commercial acceptance at the end of the facility transition period on June 13, when SA Health officially takes ownership and the building could theoretically open for patients.

Executive director of New RAH Activation Paul Lambert said one challenge in the transition period is ensuring equipment installation does not clash with ongoing building work.

“We’re using a project control centre that is like a NASA control room with screens up on the walls and maps of every room and space to understand where there may be clashes,” he said.

“It is a huge logistical exercise and will continue over the next few weeks. We are ahead of where we thought we would be.”

The next phase in transition will be “state operational commissioning scenarios” — where staff will deal with mock emergencies to ensure they — and the hospital — are ready for the real thing when the $2.3 billion hospital finally opens to patients, on a date yet to be set.