Noarlunga Hospital upgrade to take the pressure off Flinders Medical Centre

The chronically overloaded Flinders Medical Centre will be partially relieved by a major upgrade at the Noarlunga Hospital.

A major upgrade of services at Noarlunga Hospital is expected to ease pressure on Flinders Medical Centre’s chronically overloaded emergency department by slashing ambulance transfers.

The overhaul will restore the hospital’s ability to keep emergency patients in overnight, rather than transport them to FMC, which was part of the site’s downgrade under the former government’s Transforming Health policy.

The Advertiser understands an announcement on Thursday will see senior medical specialists rostered on 24/7 to allow patients needing care for more than 24 hours to be admitted, rather than be sent to FMC.

Director of Noarlunga Hospital Emergency Department Dr Jim Holland.

FMC has seen some of the worst ambulance ramping as its ED is regularly on code white – treating more patients than its capacity – such as at 2.30pm Wednesday when there were 63 patients being treated in the 53-capacity ED and 12 people waiting to be seen.

At present about 3000 patients a year are sent onwards to FMC by ambulance due to needing more than 24 hours care. This is expected to be cut by more than 1000 a year under the changes.

Noarlunga Hospital director of emergency services Dr Jim Holland welcomed the upgrade, saying it would boost the hospital’s acute care levels.

“This expansion will not only increase Noarlunga Hospital’s capacity to care for more patients within its catchment, it will also provide the kind of acute speciality services and senior clinical cover we haven’t had in place for decades,” he said.

“A large number of the local community will now have better access to speciality services at Noarlunga, reducing the need to be transferred.”