No remedy in sight for $2.4bn trouble-hit hospital

Premier Steven Marshall is refusing to put a timeline on when problems at the $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital will be fixed.

The new Royal Adelaide Hospital is still plagued by problems. Picture: Kelly Barnes

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall is refusing to put a timeline on when problems at the trouble-plagued $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital will be remedied.

Mr Marshall said fixing issues such as chronic overcrowding and budget blowouts was a long-term, but not insurmountable, challenge.

“The magnitude of the problem does not scare us at all. It will take some time to fix, but we’re up for the task,” he said.

“We’re one of eight health systems in the country and the fifth largest, so one of the smallest — and we don’t see over-budget expenditure and poor performance in some of the larger states, so we know it can be done.”

Administrator KordaMentha is on an $18.9 million one-year contract to cut costs amid an expected $300m blowout this financial year in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, which oversees the 880-bed RAH. “This would be the most broken organisation I’ve witnessed, both financially and clinically,” consultant Mark Mentha told parliament’s budget and finance committee last month.

The most pressing problem for Mr Marshall, who led the Liberals into government a year ago, and his Health Minister Stephen Wade is “ramping” — when an ambulance is parked outside a hospital because there are no beds free to treat a patient.

Ramping, caused by a lack of capacity and poor patient flow, is prevalent across Adelaide’s metropolitan hospital network, but most stark at the 18-month-old RAH.

The three frontline health unions have threatened industrial action over the issue.

A record 20 ambulances were at one time last month forced to wait outside.

Ramping was also linked to adverse incidents last year, including nine deaths.

Recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data showed RAH had the worst record of any major hospital in Australia last financial year, with only 45 per cent of patients leaving its emergency department within four hours.