Lyell McEwin Hospital under strain as demand reaches 'flashpoint'

A man with pneumonia waited for more than nine hours in an ambulance outside a hospital in Adelaide's northern suburbs on a day that the doctors' union has described as a "flashpoint" demand for the emergency department.

Alison Marsh was caring for her brother Michael McLean, who has a traumatic brain injury and is unable to communicate, when a change in his demeanour prompted her to call an ambulance on Tuesday.

Although the ambulance had arrived and taken them to the nearby Lyell McEwin Hospital within 20 minutes, she said it took nine hours for him to be taken from the ambulance to the hospital's emergency room.

"He is still in the emergency department waiting for a bed," she said.

"He's had nothing, no treatment since he arrived at the hospital yesterday morning. He's gone a long time with pneumonia, someone who's already [with] a weakened immune system. He's just had to sit and wait."

Overwhelming demand

The doctors' union described staff as feeling "helpless" by Tuesday evening, with a period of overwhelming demand reaching more than double that of capacity.

SASMOA's chief industrial officer Bernadette Mulholland said 130 patients were "either waiting for treatment, getting treatment or waiting for a bed" on Tuesday inside the ED, where capacity is under 60.

"We've been watching this build-up in the Lyell McEwin Hospital now for a couple of weeks," Ms Mulholland said.

"I think it's just reaching flashpoint in that particular emergency department — unless something is done, and done quickly, to help the clinicians make sure there's space for them to give patients the care they need."

Government response

The state government has acknowledged the intensity of the strain at the hospital, pointing to population growth in Adelaide's north as one of several factors behind the excess pressure.

Health Minister Blair Boyer said SafeWork SA had since "closed off" a report submitted by a SASMOA representative who visited the hospital on September 8, which alleged that patients waited more than 13 hours to be treated.

"We have seen rising presentations to our EDs for a number of years, but the Lyell McEwin Hospital certainly in the last few months has seen a real spike in that," he said.

"We talk a lot about the aging profile of our population — the oldest mainland state — which has an impact. But obviously the northern suburbs are the epicentre of population growth as well, so they get kind of both those factors there."

Mr Boyer said the state's current flu caseload was another potential cause of increased system pressure.

"Up until now [we've had a] relatively sedate flu season, but that is starting to shoot up," he said.