New Royal Adelaide Hospital up to another year off after Health Minister rejects new plan to fix alleged safety defects
EXCLUSIVE: A plan by builders of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital to fix alleged defects has been rejected, as Health Minister Jack Snelling warned that it would have left patient safety at risk.
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A PLAN by builders of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital to fix alleged defects has been rejected, as Health Minister Jack Snelling warned that it would have left patient safety at risk.
In a move that raises new fears the new $2.1 billion hospital will now not open until late next year, The Advertiser can reveal that last Friday, Mr Snelling rejected a so-called “cure plan” from the builders in which they set out a blueprint for fixing disputed aspects of the finished design.
Mr Snelling said on Sunday he had significant concerns about crucial elements of the near-finished hospital which would threaten patient safety unless they were fully repaired.
“We’re not playing games here,” he said.
“These are very serious issues I expect them to rectify. We won’t be paying any money and, particularly, we won’t be moving in to the hospital until it’s entirely safe for us to do so, and that’s not the case at the moment.”
Mr Snelling said he could not detail the critical safety issues in the hospital because they were part of a “commercial negotiation”.
However, he insisted they were more significant than those previously made public, which include small loading docks and narrow ceiling cavities.
“This isn’t some ploy to stop us moving in,” Mr Snelling said. “No one wants us to move into the hospital more than I do, but I won’t be doing so until I am completely convinced that to do so is completely safe for every single one of those new patients that we’re going to be admitting.
“It is around issues of the safe functioning of the hospital. They are not minor things. In time, without doubt, I’ll be in a position to explain what those issues are.”
The setback intensifies concerns that the hospital will now not open until after next winter, meaning it could begin taking patients just months before the March 2018 state election.
When first announced, the new RAH was slated for an opening in April this year.
Prior to the rejection, the Government and builder SA Health Partnerships had been locked in court battles and June was shaping as a best-case opening date.
The latest setback threatens to add more time to an already-delayed construction and negotiation process and increases the chance of a handover during or after next year’s busy winter flu season, when moving is most difficult.
That would result in the hospital opening late next year, just months before the March 2018 State Election.
Mr Snelling insisted the contract protected taxpayers from costs associated with making the final building match the designs, and that any delays in handover saved the state $1 million a day.
“Our very firm legal advice is that the contract is very strong to protect taxpayers,” he said.
“There is no doubt that they can be rectified but there is a cost associated, one that the taxpayer does not bear, and it is their (SAHP’s) obligation to meet the contractual requirement.”
Mr Snelling said the Government still did not have a date locked in for the new RAH opening, and conceded the latest breakdown in talks would likely add time to ultimate completion.
“The issues that are there could be fixed to enable us to move in the first half of next year,” he said.
“Having said that, the ball is very much in SAHP’s court. They really need to come back to Government and explain to us how they are going to fix the issues we have raised.
“There’s nothing here to stop us moving in the first half of next year, if they stop playing games.
“It could well be that we’re looking at later if they continue to play games.”
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, an industry body focused on promoting joint projects between the public and private sectors, questioned the Government’s desire to speedily complete the project and said investor confidence in SA was dented by the new RAH having stalled.
IPA chief executive Brendan Lyon said SA “badly needs investment in new industries and new jobs, but the nRAH debacle will have the opposite effect if it’s not resolved very quickly”.
“SA bought a large, complex hospital. It’s normal to have delivery problems, but it’s absolutely abnormal to see so little urgency on getting the nRAH open,” he said.
“The new RAH was always a big project for SA, but it’s turning into a major embarrassment because the state has been unable to reach a good-faith agreement about the cure plan.
“The shenanigans on nRAH are up in red lights in bank and super fund investment committees around the country, and the Premier needs to step in and fix it.”
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade feared the delay was harming SA’s reputation and could lead to a big bill for taxpayers despite the Government’s reassurances.
“It’s not good for our state. The industry was already cross about the cancellation of corrections and courts projects and now the next big public-private partnership is being badly mismanaged,” Mr Wade said.
“The Government’s running major risks here and, if the delays are later shown to be its fault, it may not be saving money but instead later having to pay out to other parties.”
