New Royal Adelaide Hospital hit with costly delay to avoid winter peak flu season

THE new Royal Adelaide Hospital opening will be further delayed, leaving the developers facing a compensation payout of about $80 million to the State Government.

• Leaked report shows new RAH will open without enough beds
• Issues continue to dog delayed new Royal Adelaide Hospital

THE new Royal Adelaide Hospital opening will be further delayed until after next winter, leaving the developers facing a compensation payout of about $80 million to the State Government.

In an announcement expected within days, it is understood Health Minister Jack Snelling will announce the $1.85 billion hospital’s scheduled opening in April next year will be pushed out to September or October to avoid system overload during the winter flu season.

The Australian Medical Association and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation are urging the hospital opening be delayed, warning that shifting patients down North Tce from the old RAH during the winter peak would compromise their safety and staff workloads.

They warn that operating the new and old RAHs at partial capacity during the 45-day transfer risks overwhelming suburban hospitals already groaning with flu cases during next winter.

Mr Snelling is likely to push this argument when revealing the latest delay for the new RAHy.

The schedule blowout triggers $25 million per month — or $850,000 per day — penalties for the consortium financing and building the hospital, SA Health Partnership.

The opening of the new RAH has been delayed. Picture: SA Health

A likely formula outlined to The Advertiser was the consortium accepting responsibility for 3.5 months’ delay and the State Government 1.5 months, due to unforeseen contaminated land clean-up.

Under this formula, the net payment to the State by the consortium would be between $75 million and $80 million.

The consortium has already claimed $30 million from the Government for time lost removing contaminated soil.

Health Minister Jack Snelling did not directly respond to questions about a further delay but highlighted previous comments that an independent report indicated the new hospital would not be ready until the second half of next year.

The Government has budgeted $176.6 million for the existing and new RAH to run in tandem.

“I’ve previously said moving a hospital in the middle of winter is highly problematic,” Mr Snelling told The Advertiser yesterday.

Nursing and Midwifery Federation SA branch secretary Elizabeth Dabars, in a letter to Mr Snelling, says cutting hundreds of beds from the old RAH during the transition would be impossible during the winter peak.

Associate Professor Dabars warns transferring during winter would “place intolerable burdens on the remaining hospital services, undue pressure on clinical staff and place patients and their welfare at risk” and urges this be delayed until October.

AMA state president Janice Fletcher said transferring a major tertiary hospital into new premises during high peak demand would “place an unnecessary risk across the whole system”.

“What we won’t want to see is the transition during winter — that’s the bottom line,” Dr Fletcher said.

Emergency departments were operating at or near capacity last month, with waiting times of up to two hours, and elective surgeries cancelled as the public health system struggled with a flu patient influx.