‘No immediate fix’ to ramping as ED queues stretch to nine hours

A ramping task force warns there is “no immediate fix” as queues at two EDs, including the Flinders Medical Centre, stretched to almost nine hours on Monday morning.

Ramping remains far from fixed as Monday morning arrivals at Flinders Medical Centre emergency department waiting room faced almost nine hours to be seen, with an average wait time at 7.30am of 538 minutes.

Anyone trying to beat the queue by going to Noarlunga Hospital faced an average wait time there of 535 minutes.

While the ED was packed, the entire FMC complex was overloaded with official figures showing 803 beds occupied in a hospital with official bed capacity of 756 – plus another 22 patients waiting for a bed.

Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn called on the government to reveal what recommendations a special task force on ramping has made.

SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence

SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence confirmed a ramping task force comprising 12 members meets fortnightly and was initially chaired by Shane Solomon, the Melbourne-based founder of consultants Caligo Health, before Dr Lawrence recently took the role.

Its terms of reference notes: “Immediate action is required with a whole of health system response to address the ramping crisis.”

However, it goes on to say “there is no immediate fix to ambulance ramping”.

Ms Hurn said Premier Peter Malinauskas promised South Australians that Labor would fix ramping.

“Nearly a year on and the situation has never been worse, with ramping exploding by 135 per cent and Peter Malinauskas’ sense of urgency has seemingly evaporated,” she said.

“Peter Malinauskas led South Australians to believe he had the plan to fix ramping, and we assume the task force has been giving him further recommendations – so what are they and what has been done about them?

“The community really deserves answers to these questions because ramping remains one of the biggest issues facing South Australian families.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

SALHN chief executive Dr Kerrie Freeman

Health Minister Chris Picton said the Liberals “left the health system in disarray”.

“In contrast we have been clear our number one priority is addressing the ramping crisis we inherited, and we are delivering a generational investment to rebuild the health system,” he said.

“We’re building over 200 beds in the south to address this serious issue, and working to bring those beds online as quickly as possible. We are opening every hospital bed possible to improve patient flow.

“Our record $2.4bn commitment will open more than 550 additional beds, recruit hundreds more doctors, nurses and ambos and build and upgrade key infrastructure across the state to provide the capacity our healthcare system needs.”

Mr Picton said groups of clinicians and management leaders regularly meet to work on fixing issues and work starts as soon as problems are identified, rather than waiting for reports and recommendations.

“An example of this is how we have recently doubled our new investment in beds at Noarlunga Hospital, which will increase beds at the hospital by 50 per cent,” he said.

“This is in stark contrast to the previous Liberal government, which did nothing to address the growing ramping crisis under their watch, when ramping increased by 78 per cent between February and March 2022, in the final weeks of the Liberal Government.”

The situation at FMC is so dire officials have been converting storage rooms to bedrooms.

Southern Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Dr Kerrie Freeman told a parliamentary committee hearing last November “unconventional” spaces were being used to deal with demand.

“They were largely either storerooms or treatment spaces. It’s within existing clinical wards,” she said.

The chronic pressure on FMC’s ED comes as the Sunday Mail revealed patients seeking an appointment with hospital specialists for a variety of conditions face significantly longer queues — in some cases years — at FMC compared to other metropolitan hospitals.

Originally published as ‘No immediate fix’ to ramping as ED queues stretch to nine hours