The South Australian opposition has taken aim at the government over the state’s buckling health system, sharing a photo of an 84-year-old woman forced to wait for 10 hours in the Lyell McEwin Hospital emergency department after falling severely ill.
The woman was suffering severe flu symptoms and reported “coughing to the point of almost losing consciousness” and losing 4 kg in 10 days, the opposition said.
She presented to the hospital in Adelaide’s north at midday on Wednesday and was forced to lie down on plastic chairs in the waiting room with a blanket for 10 hours because there were no available beds.
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The 84-year-old told the opposition she wished to remain anonymous.
The woman’s experience also comes a week after the state’s health department paused elective surgeries in public hospitals because too many staff were sick with COVID-19.
Since the code yellow was called at the end of May, at least 458 elective surgeries have been cancelled and about 280 medical staff remain on sick leave.
The opposition urged the government on Friday to advise when the ban would be lifted and commit to fixing the crippled health system.
“Before the election, Peter Malinauskas and Chris Picton said Labor had a plan to fix ramping and the health system,” Deputy Opposition leader John Gardner said.
“We’re more than two years on. We are three (state) budgets in and we’re onto the third version of Labor’s plan.
“It takes a special kind of incompetence to spend more money than ever before to worse results than ever before.
“South Australia’s health system has never faced a bleaker situation than it appears to right now.”
Health Minister Chris Picton said the ban would be lifted in country hospitals from Friday afternoon, but said the ban in metropolitan hospitals would continue to be reviewed.
“This is being monitored on a daily basis to make sure that we can prioritise emergency care for patients and also the high-priority cases of elective surgeries that need to continue,” Picton said.
He said the circumstances of the 84-year-old woman were being looked into.
SA Health CEO Dr Robyn Lawrence said most of the cancelled elective surgeries were in country hospitals.
As part of the 2024-25 state budget, the South Australian government committed to increasing 330 hospital beds by the end of 2025.
Picton said the increase was the equivalent of a new Queen Elizabeth Hospital being built.
Lawrence urged people to stay away from emergency departments over the long weekend if there were alternative medical centres they could present to.