A desperate attempt is being made to remodel extra clinical areas inside South Australia’s hospitals in order to increase the capacity of the state’s health system.
The health minister has stated that any gaps will still be filled by the private system in the interim.
One of the busiest hospitals in Adelaide, Lyell McEwin Hospital, recently underwent a roof renovation to create a clinical area with 48 brand-new beds spread across two new wards.
“The simple reality is this the demand is already here, these 48 beds will open tomorrow and by tomorrow night those 48 beds will essentially be full,” Premier Peter Malinauskas stated.
Today, the government said that it will now proceed to convert a different hospital location in order to add 12 more beds.
Health Minister Chris Picton stated, “That’s going to be particularly used for surgery so going to the point about how we can keep that surgery operating.”
Dr. Toby Gilbert clarified that “patients in places that are not meant to be used as wards” and the cancellation of elective surgeries were the results of the bed scarcity.
However, non-urgent surgeries have still been postponed at Adelaide’s Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in the southern region in recent days.
It’s uncertain how many exactly.
In response to a query on whether the public hospital system will still depend on beds at for-profit facilities, Picton stated that circumstances “change day by day.”
“Hospitals will continue to make those local decisions, they will continue to utilise private capacity when they can, they’ll make sure they can operations as they can,” he stated.
