New Royal Adelaide Hospital: State Government reveal opening date to be September 5, 2017

UPDATE: Taxpayers face a bill of tens of millions of dollars to run an empty new Royal Adelaide Hospital, as the State Government finally announces when the new RAH will open.

• Flu cases in at highest rate in five years, as shift to new RAH nears
• Technical completion of new Royal Adelaide Hospital announced
• See inside the new Royal Adelaide Hospital for yourself
• What can we expect when the new $2.3bn RAH finally opens?

TAXPAYERS face a bill of tens of millions of dollars to run an empty new Royal Adelaide Hospital, as contract payments start in June but patients aren’t admitted until September.

The State Government has ended months of speculation with a plan to open the new RAH’s doors to patients on September 5, almost 18 months behind schedule.

At the same time, the old ED will officially close.

So-called commercial acceptance is expected to be reached in the middle of June, triggering the start of $1 million-a-day payment to the consortium in charge of the project. The cost covers building upkeep as well as cleaning and other services.

However, a spike in the number of flu cases has led Health Minister Jack Snelling to abandon plans for a possible winter move.

Asked whether the three-month delay could cost up to $90 million, Mr Snelling said journalists could make their own calculations.

However, he said more than $400 million had been saved as a result of the builders missing the original opening day of April 2016.

Mr Snelling said the new RAH was the biggest event in SA’s healthcare history.

“It is the most advanced hospital in the world,” he said. “I am incredibly proud.”

The date could be reviewed and pushed further out if patient numbers at the old RAH can’t be reduced rapidly enough or new clinical advice requires further delay, he said.

Australian Medical Association SA President William Tam said it was “great to finally have a date”, but medical experts must be closely consulted on executing the move.

“This provides the doctors and others with something concrete to work with,” he said.

“It is challenging planning for future patient care when a moving date is unknown, which is what doctors and others have been doing for a long time now. Now doctors and others have something more solid to work to. “Time will tell whether the dates will stick.”

The AMA has not been given detail of the “bold” three-day move plan.

“We don’t know how long flu season will last, or when it will peak,” Dr Tam said.

“Whenever the move occurs it will be a challenge, and much depends on the capacity of the other hospitals in the health system to pick up extra load.”

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation SA secretary Elizabeth Dabars said the September launch date was a milestone and a “solid date to work towards”.

“Testing and remedial work continues to be undertaken and until those processes are complete, and nursing staff are able to visit and review their practice in the new environment, we may still face further obstacles,” she said.

“Our current focus remains working with key health officials to finalise models of care and staffing arrangements.

“We appreciate the Government’s acceptance that this move-in date remains contingent upon activity levels being low enough to ensure patient and staff safety.”

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade predicted the date “will be moved”.

“Jack Snelling has never met a predicted opening date and this is the one he is least likely to meet,” Mr Wade said.

“This plan is not feasible. The Weatherill Government is demonstrating yet again that it puts politics before patient safety.”

An open day for the public is expected to be held in July. The three-month delay between handover and open is also expected to be used for clinical training.

THE MOVE INTO A NEW HOSPITAL

A fleet of additional ambulances and South Australia’s multi-patient ambulance bus will transport around 100 patients to the new hospital on each day of the move.

To help staff transition to the new site, a small number of services that do not require an overnight stay will begin working at the new RAH from mid-August, including some outpatient clinics and radiation oncology.

The new RAH Control Centre will help in the move, monitoring road conditions and sequencing traffic lights along North Tce to allow for quick transfer. Alternative routes have also been identified for use in case of traffic congestion.

The patient move will follow a six-week ramp down at the current RAH. Patient numbers will be cut from about 600 to 300, with hospitals across the metropolitan area taking on extra in-patients.

Other SA Health sites will support the ramp down of the old RAH and some non-urgent elective surgery will be postponed.

Some long-stay patients will be transferred to peri-urban hospitals, where appropriate.

Mr Weatherill said the opening of the state-of-the-art new RAH would be “one of the most significant events in our great state’s history”.

“Moving to the new site is a huge undertaking for all involved and I know the community is excited about the new hospital opening its doors to inpatients in September,” Mr Weatherill said.

“There’s been a huge amount of interest from the community so we will be holding tour days so the public can see inside this wonderful facility for themselves sometime in July.”

TIMELINE OF THE NEW ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

June 2006 — Premier Mike Rann announces the Royal Adelaide Hospital will be replaced with the new $1.7 billion, 800-bed Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital. The naming decision was dropped in 2009.

2011 — rail yards relocated and site rehabilitation starts. Contract with preferred bidder signed and construction commences with a planned opening date in early 2016.

January 19, 2016 — first technical completion date missed, after earlier being revised to April following problems with contaminated soil. Possible opening in late April postponed.

March 23, 2016 — amid concern the troubled $422 million EPAS electronic patient record system will not be ready when the hospital opens, it emerges ward floors are not strong enough to store paper records and the majority will have to be stored off-site.

April 4, 2016 — second technical completion date missed. Possible opening date in early July pushed back to November 30 to avoid problems associated with moving in during the peak winter flu season, raising the possibility of paying $1 million a day for an empty hospital for months, or up to $100 million.

May 25, 2016 — third technical completion date passes. Health Minister Jack Snelling indicates the November 30 opening target is unlikely to be achieved.

May 26, 2016 — SA Health pushes on with Transforming Health reforms despite delays, shifting QEH cardiology services to the RAH — they will be shifted again once the new RAH opens.

June 1, 2016 — Advertiser.com.au reveals the fourth technical completion target is now some time in September and the hospital is virtually certain not to open until 2017.

March 15, 2017 — Health Minister Jack Snelling announces the technical completion of the $2.3 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital but has still not declared an official opening date.

March 17, 2017 — Doctors and medical staff learn the new Royal Adelaide Hospital will open with dozens less overnight beds available for sick patients, prompting doctors to raise fears for the community’s safety.

May 7, 2017 — With the new RAH fully constructed but in its testing phase, flu cases in South Australia hit their highest rate in at least five years, raising new fears about the State Government’s plan to shift the Royal Adelaide Hospital in winter.