SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence defends abrupt decision to cancel elective surgery in lead up to Easter

SA Health’s chief executive rejects claims she waited until after Saturday’s Dunstan by-election to announce the cancelling of elective surgeries over Easter.

SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence has bluntly rejected claims that Saturday’s Dunstan by-election caused her to delay publicly declaring the department was cancelling elective surgeries.

At least 33 surgeries were cancelled on Wednesday and a similar number is expected on Thursday before the traditional Easter elective surgery shut down beginning on Good Friday.

Dr Lawrence said the patients would be rescheduled as soon as possible but was unable to quantify when.

She said people further back in the queue would not be rescheduled – instead, the postponed patients would be done as “slots” unexpectedly become available.

There are more than 18,800 patients on the queue listed as “ready for surgery” including more than almost 4000 listed as overdue.

Dr Lawrence stressed the cancellation was based on health care, not politics.

“We took, the decision based on the needs of the healthcare system and the needs of our acute patients,” she said.

Dr Robyn Lawrence has been accused of delaying an announcement on elective surgeries until after the Dunstan by-election. Picture Dean Martin

“It was not based on any political reason.

“I’d like to apologise to those patients who have had their elective care disrupted and reassure them we will be working as quickly as possible to get their care rescheduled.”

Dr Lawrence said she had not had any discussion with the government on the decision, although the doctors’ union had warned the system was at breaking point a fortnight ago.

Dr Lawrence said the reasons behind the pre-winter surge of demand on hospitals was “a complex scenario” but included Covid seeing people put off healthcare, difficulty accessing GPs and other primary care, and hospitals being full of patients waiting for an aged care place.

She said at the moment there were more than 500 people who had been in hospitals for more than 21 days including many waiting for an aged care place.

She also confirmed the $2.4bn Royal Adelaide Hospital – built for future population growth – has every bed used.

The abrupt cancellation of non-urgent Category 2 and 3 surgeries was announced late on Tuesday due to increasing pressure on hospitals and the difficulty in discharging patients over the Easter weekend.

Surgeries including joint replacements and gall bladder removal have been put off until further notice.

Dr Lawrence has faced criticism she was aware of the need to cancel surgeries at the end of last week but did not act until after by-election voting was complete.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn said people were “joining the dots” to see the timing of the announcement came soon after the by-election.

“It’s hard to see how (the timing) is not a coincidence,” she said. “We know the government has been talking about this mounting pressure on the hospital system for the last couple of months and clinicians have been calling for action just over the last two weeks.

“For this abrupt cancellation to occur just two days after the Dunstan by-election is I think is a big coincidence.

“Would it have changed the result in the by-election? Ultimately we will never know.”

Health Minister Chris Picton supported Dr Lawrence’s claims that the discussion of postponing elective surgeries first occurred on Tuesday.

“The first time discussions were had about this decision was yesterday,” Mr Picton told The Advertiser.

“As Dr Lawrence explained this morning, such a decision is not taken lightly, the decision was notified as quickly as possible, and a decision like this cannot be made pre-emptively.

“Dr Robyn Lawrence is a first-class public servant and leader who is working hard to manage significant demand on our hospitals while the additional bed capacity that is needed is being built.”

It comes as Flinders Medical Centre has dumped its “corridor care” trial – where patients are put in beds within hospital corridors when the emergency department becomes full.

Nevertheless, Dr Lawrence defended the trial as a necessary measure.

“We want patients to get the care they need when they need it and if that means using unconventional spaces temporarily as they try, then we will do that to ensure they can get that care,” she said.