SA government’s ‘fit to sit’ policy slammed by opposition as ‘deckchair shuffle’

A policy to transfer patients from ambulances into ED waiting rooms has been slammed by the opposition – but the government says it was also in place under the Liberals.

A policy to transfer patients from ambulances into emergency department waiting rooms has been labelled by the state opposition as “a shameful deckchair shuffle”.

But Health Minister Chris Picton said the practice is in place across the country and was used under the former Liberal government.

SA Health chief executive Dr Robyn Lawrence told a parliamentary committee of a clinical protocol described as “fit to sit”.

Labor promised before the election to “fix the ramping crisis”.

“Those patients who are asked to wait in the waiting room are of the same acuity as other patients who walk into the hospital.

“They are deemed under a clinical protocol as what we might colloquially call ‘fit to sit’, and they can wait in the waiting room.”

Opposition Leader David Speirs said Labor’s ramping plan was “disgraceful and disingenuous”.

“The ‘fit to sit’ policy that Peter Malinauskas is pushing on our already overcrowding hospitals is nothing short of a shameful deckchair shuffle to trick South Australians into thinking ramping is getting better, after promising to fix the issue at the election,” he said.

But Mr Picton said the practice was not new, and had been used under the former Liberal government.

“This longstanding practice that also happened under the Liberals is not our plan to fix the ramping crisis – that plan is our $2.4bn investments in 550 beds and hundreds of extra doctors and nurses,” he said.

It came as the Salaried Medical Officers Association, the union representing doctors, raised concerns about overcrowding at Flinders Medical Centre this week.

“Wall to wall patients into the night – more beds and more staff is the key outcome for this crisis,” the union said.

“Burnout and moral injury for staff needs to be treated – winter demand around the corner, the clock is ticking.”

A new 26-bed ward is due to open at the hospital next week, which Mr Picton said would be a “significant help”.

“But we know that’s not the full answer, a lot more is going to have to happen,” he said.

The state government this week said it never committed to any target of reduction in ambulance ramping hours, despite its election pledge to “fix the ramping crisis”.

Mr Picton said the commitment had always been in reference to improving ambulance response times.

But opposition health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn said Labor was attempting to introduce a new metric after presiding over the worst 10 months of ramping in South Australian history.

Originally published as SA government’s ‘fit to sit’ policy slammed by opposition as ‘deckchair shuffle’