Patients are waiting in EDs more than 24 hours for a suitable bed

Even on a normally quiet Wednesday morning there is a queue of patients warehoused in public hospital emergency departments waiting more than 24 hours for a suitable bed.

Patients seeking hospital treatment are becoming stuck in the voyage of the jammed with many – mainly mental health patients – waiting in some cases days in emergency departments before a suitable bed becomes available.

At 8am on what is normally a slow Wednesday, there were 14 patients stuck in metropolitan public hospital emergency departments for more than 24 hours, and 32 who had been waiting between 12-24 hours for a suitable bed.

Metropolitan hospitals had 42 mental health patients who had been in emergency departments for more than eight hours.

The cascading effect pushed average waiting times out for new arrivals.

At the Royal Adelaide Hospital, officials declared a Code White as there were 79 patients being treated in the 69-capacity ED, with 14 people waiting to be seen and three arrivals expected.

The average waiting time to be seen was eight and a half hours.

Health Minister Chris Picton was due to promote a milestone in the $314m redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital later on Wednesday.

That hospital’s 29-capacity ED was full at 8am – clinicians had commenced treating 29 people with 10 people waiting to be seen or expected to arrive, although the average waiting time was listed as just eight minutes.

The QEH had nine mental health patients who had been in the ED for more than eight hours.

The state government is investing in more mental health beds.