Patients stuck ‘up to three days’ in SA EDs waiting for a bed as winter health crisis continues

Dozens of patients are currently languishing in SA’s emergency departments, with some waiting up to 72 hours for a bed, the union has found.

Patients are spending three days or more stuck in hospital emergency departments after treatment waiting for a ward bed, a snap inspection by the doctors’ union has found.

It comes as July’s horror health run continues with the metropolitan ED system continuing to run out of beds, leading to ambulance ramping and long waits to be seen for walk-ins.

At 8.30pm on Sunday clinicians had commenced treating 381 patients despite the metropolitan system having a combined official capacity of 333 beds.

There were 126 patients warehoused in EDs who had been treated and were waiting for a ward bed — 25 of them for 24 hours or more.

A snap inspection at the Lyell McEwin Hospital found one patient waited 72 hours for a bed.

Following complaints by members about safety, a snap inspection of the Lyell McEwin Hospital by the SA Salaried Medical Officers Association on Friday found the longest such patient had been in for 72 hours.

“Told inpatients wards have ‘been working their guts out all day’, longest stay patient in the ED was 72 hours, waiting rooms are full, this is not sustainable,” a SASMOA statement following the inspection says.

Senior doctors at Lyell McEwin say there have been multiple cases recently of patients staying three days or long waiting for a bed.

There also is mounting alarm about growing violence in EDs with one doctor commenting “Doctors are being regularly assaulted by patients.”

The gridlock in EDs causing ambulance ramping is seeing a drop in ambulance response times – the metric now used by the state government to show it is “fixing” ramping.

Paramedics were ramped for 5387 hours in June, the second worst month on record. Picture: NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

Last month paramedics were ramped for 5387 hours – the second worst month on record – and response times for priority 1 patients within the target of eight minutes fell to 67.2 per cent, the worst since last August.

For priority 2 patients it fell to 51.5 per cent attended within the target of 16 minutes – the worst since December 2022.

The Ambulance Employees Association say some crews are spending their entire 12 hour shift stuck on the ramp, unable to attend call-outs.

The pressure on the health system amid winter ills comes as public hospital doctors threaten to strike on July 30 over pay and conditions.

They are seeking a 10 per cent rise, per year, for three years, while the government has offered 10 per cent over three years.

About 8000 public sector allied health workers this month accepted a 13.5 per cent rise over four years after initially demanding 25 per cent.

SASMOA also is pushing a three point plan: train more local doctors with a demand for 80 extra student places in SA from 2026; develop a detailed medical workforce plan; and use the plan to make changes to attract and retain doctors in SA.