Mount Gambier ED hits 125 per cent capacity

The SA Salaried Medical Officers Association reported Mount Gambier Hospital's emergency department reached more than one hundred twenty-five percent capacity last Wednesday, with thirty patients and twelve treatment areas.

Overcrowding strains doctors and patients

Bernadette Mulholland, representing SASMOA, said insufficient treatment spaces makes it difficult to see acutely unwell patients and increases distress for both clinicians and patients.

“It also increases the distress of not only the clinicians, but also the patients.”

Regional hospitals missing from public dashboard

A publicly available dashboard tracks Adelaide emergency departments but excludes regional hospitals. Mulholland said adding Mount Gambier, Gawler and Mount Barker would help identify whether overcapacity is an anomaly or a pattern.

“What would be useful to understand better the pressure on our rural hospitals, particularly our bigger rural hospitals like Mount Gambier, Gawler and Mount Barker, is to have those added to the dashboard.”

Opposition questions system's capacity

SA Shadow Health Minister Jack Batty said doctors and nurses in regions are being stretched to breaking point. He asked how the government can plan solutions without properly identifying the problem's extent.

“If we can't properly identify the extent of the problem, how on earth are we going to plan for the solutions?”

Minister cites flu surge and aged care backlog

Health Minister Blair Boyer said ED presentations across the state increased recently due to a flu spike and patients waiting to transfer from hospital beds to aged care facilities.

Boyer open to dashboard data but cautious

Blair Boyer said he would look at providing regional hospital data on the ED dashboard but would have to be convinced it would provide value and change.