Long Waits and Makeshift Care: Lyell McEwin Hospital ED in Crisis

Patients at Adelaide's northern suburbs' largest emergency department have faced excruciating waits, with some waiting over 13 hours to receive treatment, according to the SA doctors' union.

Crisis Levels at Lyell McEwin Hospital

A representative of the South Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Association visited Lyell McEwin Hospital on September 8 and reported that the emergency department was operating at "crisis" levels, with over 100 patients seeking care, including 12 stuck outside in ambulances. The department has a capacity of 51 patients.

The union representative alleged that "makeshift" treatment sites were set up in the waiting area, and patients were treated in parenting, interview, and decontamination rooms.

According to the report, doctors stated that patients were "generally waiting between 13 to 14 hours to be seen", including one person with a dislocated hip who waited on the ramp in an ambulance for "hours".

Distressing Conditions for Patients and Staff

Bernadette Mulholland, chief industrial officer, said doctors in the emergency department were "distressed".

"You can only imagine how distressing that is for the patients and for those frontline health workers,"

she said.

"All they are trying to do is provide the care to that particular patient or any patient that has been waiting for a long period of time."

Government Response and Criticism

On Friday, SA Health Minister Blair Boyer apologized to patients who had to wait hours for treatment.

"These numbers that we are seeing of people presenting [to the emergency department], of people waiting, are unprecedented numbers,"

he said.

In response, the state government announced that an additional 20 beds would open at Lyell McEwin Hospital the following week, catering to older people awaiting long-term care.

However, opposition spokesperson Josh Teague criticized the government's response.

"We've heard so much deflection from Minister Boyer — and Labor state and federal fighting amongst themselves is far from what South Australians deserve right now,"

he said.

Capacity Pressures and Systemic Issues

Minister Boyer pointed to the number of patients across the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network waiting for a bed in the aged care system as a source of stress on department capacity.

"We are losing those [beds] to the system, to be able to accommodate the people waiting in the ED, and then the ED doesn't have the same capacity to accommodate people who are in the back of the ambulance at the ramp,"

he said.