The Health Minister John Hill has promised to find ways to ease overcrowding at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) in Adelaide. At present ambulance crews have left people on stretchers in the hospital’s corridors or in ambulances for long periods before they can be given emergency beds sources reveal.
Patients brought to hospital by paramedics are remaining on stretchers in corridors or inside the vehicle for long periods before getting emergency beds. The wait leaves paramedics unable to retrieve stretchers and respond to new calls. The previous practice of immediately transferring new patients to hospital beds in holding bays, where nurses provided initial treatment, was abandoned about six months ago. The Ambulance Employees’ Association is threatening industrial action as early as today, which could cost the state health system millions of dollars a week.
Mr. Hill said a major building program at the hospital was the reason for many of the problems, but he would do what was possible to improve conditions. Construction of a $163 million FMC expansion, including a new emergency department set to open on April 6, has temporarily cut capacity. “I’m going to talk to my department today about what we can do to assist even further in the short term…We obviously don’t want to see ambulance officers being unnecessarily delayed delivering patients to hospitals, nor do we want to see patients having to wait on stretchers while they get a place.” He added that threats of industrial action were unhelpful saying, “I think the threat of bans is not going to be very helpful, it’s not going to make things easier.”
In Ambulance Employees’ Association member bulletins released at the weekend, state secretary Phil Palmer concedes many paramedics are “sick of the dismissive attitude this government has to the health sector”. “I’m well aware members are champing at the bit to put the bans on, but resolving this issue permanently is the most important thing...We do feel there is some onus on us to see if Flinders Medical Centre can fix it...If we hear it has occurred again, case card bans will be applied,” he said.
Australian Medical Association state president Andrew Lavender said the risk of forced ambulance queuing had been identified before construction on the FMC expansion began. “It is reflective of what are capacity issues across the system...We as a state have failed to invest in both the equipment and the staffing required over a long period of time. It’s a failure of planning and management and in the short term there are no easy answers,” Dr Lavender said.
FMC general manager Roz Hanson said ambulance turn-around times were “a priority” for the hospital, which has recently experienced a surge in patient demand. “The FMC redevelopment project has reduced available space in the emergency department, however, it is not entirely responsible for ambulance diversion,” she said.
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