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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-04 Daily Xml
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Hospital Beds

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:47): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about bed numbers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: Last week, the minister talked about closing beds to create flex beds. My questions to the minister are:

1. Will doctors have the ability to open these flex beds based on clinical needs?

2. If not, what will be the process by which the flex beds will open?

3. In a year's time in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network will there be more or less beds in the RAH and The QEH?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:48): One of the most important elements that we need to address in terms of the hospital demand—managing surges—is making sure that when the ambulances present somebody in an acute state and the emergency departments assess somebody in an acute state, there is actually somewhere for them to go. It's very important that hospitals have breathing space. No hospital can operate efficiently if they are jam-packed.

The incoming CEO of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network made an interesting comment about this last week. A journalist asked her, 'What level of capacity should the Royal Adelaide Hospital be operating at?' Her response was:

I think that there's really good international evidence that once you start to get over about 92 and 94 per cent, it is very difficult to respond to surges in demand...That would be where international evidence...I think some years ago they used to pin it at 85 per cent but I don't think that is most health services' reality.

So considering that I don't run the hospitals, The Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Adelaide—Lesley Dwyer does; she is indicating in a public forum that she is looking at a working breathing space of 6 per cent to 8 per cent.

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