Royal Adelaide Hospital

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:16): My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister update the house on work that is currently underway to ensure a safe move to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:16): I thank the member for Elder for her question. As a nurse and midwife, I know that she is excited, along with the rest of the health profession, about the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. This morning, the Premier and I were briefed by senior emergency services, logistics and clinical personnel on planning for the move to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

This is a very complex, once in a 200-year move, and needs to be done safely. To facilitate a safe inpatient move, the SA Ambulance Service will lead a move command team to be based at their headquarters. The team will work closely with other agencies, such as fire, police and transport during the move. It will assess the number of patients set to be moved, how sick they are and what level of medical support they need during the journey. The move command team will also monitor the progress of the move to ensure safe transportation.

A project control centre will be connected to real-time traffic management and weather maps, as well as SAPOL and South Australian ambulance systems, and will play an integral role during the move, ensuring coordination of the move with on-site activities at the new RAH. Road conditions and the sequencing of traffic lights along the move route will also be carefully monitored. While it is not expected that roads will need to be closed for the move, alternative routes have been identified for use in the event of traffic congestion.

The project control centre is currently testing the readiness of the new RAH, including the installation and rollout of high-tech medical equipment, staff training and testing of the building itself. There are around 8,000 pieces of new equipment going into the new RAH, with an additional 2,000 items being transferred from the current Royal Adelaide Hospital. The new equipment, worth more than $100 million, includes CT scanners, MRIs, linear accelerators and a host of monitoring equipment. This critical medical equipment will be vital in supporting front-line services, improving patient outcomes and, most importantly, saving lives.

Major pieces of medical infrastructure are currently being installed and tested, including three new linear accelerators and a brachytherapy machine to deliver targeted cancer-killing radiation therapy. Almost 1,600 of the total 2,000 pallets of medical equipment, devices and supplies have already been delivered to the new RAH. State-of-the-art systems and technology are being assembled, tested and switched on right across the facility, from bedside devices to pharmacy robotics.

The massive task of moving hundreds of patients and thousands of staff to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is well on track, and a huge amount of work is currently underway to ensure that the move to the new RAH is safe and successful.