Privacy screens to be installed at RAH labelled an ‘embarrassment’ by Ambulance Employee Association

PRIVACY screens outside the ambulance waiting area at the Royal Adelaide Hospital have been labelled an “embarrassment”.

Ambulances outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Picture: Brad Crouch

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TEMPORARY screens to be installed at the Royal Adelaide Hospital to protect patient privacy have been labelled an embarrassment by the Ambulance Employee Association.

They warn there may need to be a “major rebuild” of the hospital’s emergency department.

The screens, which will be erected on Friday, have become essential as ambulances are forced to ramp outside the hospital’s emergency department, unloading patients within full view of Port Rd.

Ambulances waiting in line to unload passengers have been asked to park facing towards the hospital, so diesel fumes from their running engines do not accumulate under the hospital awning.

Ambulance Employee Association state secretary Phil Palmer said the screens were the beginning of major changes which needed to be made to that part of the hospital.

“The temporary screens are the smallest of things that need to changed, they have major changes that need to be made,” Mr Palmer said.

“There will need to be a rebuild of that part of the hospital. It’s a ridiculous situation where a brand new hospital has to have a temporary screen put up because someone didn’t think this through.

“We raised a number of concerns about the design but we were ignored. We considered it fanciful that they wouldn’t bust and predicted there would be ramping. This is all the result of poor consultation and not listening to what ambos had to say.

“Putting a screen up is the least of these consequences, denying the community access to an ambulance is the most important consequence of this ramping.”

Chief executive of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, Jenny Richter, said the change follows complaints made by paramedics in early 2018.

“Following paramedics’ concerns about the build-up of heat and vehicle exhaust emissions in the parking bay, ambulances have been parking with their rear doors facing a busy car park and main road,” Ms Richter said.

“Having the ambulances park and unload patients in this way was not part of the original hospital design, so we have had to look at options to best protect patient privacy.

“A temporary fence will be erected around the ED until a permanent solution is found.”

Mr Palmer said the state’s ramping issues had only just begun with winter on the way.

“Just about every day there is ramping and we are not even in winter yet. There is a disaster looming and we are tying up ambulances at hospitals so they can’t be in the community.”