Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. C. BONAROS (14:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question about ambulance ramping.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: History was made for the wrong reasons last week when ambulances were forced to ramp at the Women's and Children's Hospital for the first time in its long distinguished career. It was claimed that seriously ill children were left waiting in parked ambulances, one allegedly for more than an hour, on Tuesday night last week.

Rightly, the Salaried Medical Officers Association and the Ambulance Employees Association were incensed. So alarmed was it that SASMOA sent officials to the hospital, who later reported that 68 patients and 30 children were in the ED waiting room, which has a capacity of just 35 patients. Its frustrated chief industrial officer, Bernadette Mulholland, later commented:

What the hell is going on and what the hell is being done about it. At some stage hospital administrators and Boards need to step up…

My questions to the minister are:

1. What caused the ramping that I have just referred to?

2. What have you as minister done to ensure ramping at the Women's and Children's Hospital doesn't happen again?

3. What is the government doing to allay fears over the ability of SA Health's system to cope with a spike in COVID cases at the Women's and Children's Hospital?

4. Is SASMOA correct in stating that the Women's and Children's Hospital has the worst medically staffed paediatric ED in the country?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:00): I thank the honourable member for her question. In relation to the last point, the union that she refers to was, I think it was yesterday, in the tribunal discussing this exact issue, so I would suggest that, whilst those discussions are going on, it's best not for me to provide commentary on union claims. The hospital has increased resources to the ED and is committed to increasing the resources to the ED further. The union is in dispute as to what the mix should be. That's a discussion they need to have with management.

The paediatric emergency department was busier than usual on the evening of Tuesday 23 November, with a significant amount of paediatric ambulance presentations received in a short period. There were ambulances on the ramp, but I think it is important to appreciate that the hospital brought in additional staff and much was achieved in terms of facilitating flow. I am advised that, of the presentations to the Women's and Children's on that night, only one patient was seen beyond the clinically appropriate time line. In terms of the average wait times for SAAS patients arriving at the Women's and Children's to ED handover, it was actually less than the benchmark.

The honourable member asks me what am I doing. I presume what she meant was: what is the government doing to address the issues in terms of meeting demand at the Women's and Children's Hospital? I will certainly address that, but I would just make the point that, even in the last week, we have had discussion in the local media about the changed referral patterns of GPs and other health services, and that is having an impact on the Women's and Children's Hospital. People who might otherwise be able to have a consultation at their GP are finding that the best option is to go to the Women's and Children's emergency department.

In terms of what the government is doing, the government is very pleased with the progress on an initiative that was established at the end of August, the Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service. That service is available for children and parents in non life-threatening situations and gives them the opportunity to avoid hospital and receive medical advice in their home. This service is staffed by highly skilled paediatric emergency nurses and doctors who will assess the child and provide advice or refer to an appropriate service.

In terms of an update, my advice is that since the service opened on 30 August it has seen around 700 patients. Of these, only 7 per cent needed to be referred on to the ED for review and assessment. We will certainly continue to look at opportunities to improve the care available to South Australians, and I am receiving very positive feedback about the virtual care service. I think it is showing a service that not only is more accessible for families, children and adolescents but also is a more effective way of a hospital dealing with some non life-threatening situations.