Construction is in full swing at all three of Adelaide’s southern hospitals, with the Malinauskas Labor Government set to deliver 130 extra beds for southern suburbs residents by the end of next year – delivering 20 more than originally planned.

On top of existing bed commitments for the south, the Government is today announcing it will this year fast track an extra 12 beds at Noarlunga Hospital plus 8 extra beds at Flinders Medical Centre.

The extra beds being delivered for southern hospitals are:

• Opened this year – 20 extra beds at Flinders Medical Centre in the new fast tracked Marjorie Tripp Ward
• Opened this year – 6 extra beds at Repat as part of the new CARE facility
• This year – 26 extra beds at the Repat in a new Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit
• This year – 12 extra beds fast tracked at Noarlunga Hospital in the existing Myles Ward (new announcement today)
• This year – 8 extra beds fast tracked at Flinders Medical Centre in an expanded transit ward (new announcement today)
• Next year – 48 extra beds at Noarlunga Hospital as part of its largest ever expansion opening next year – both medical and mental health beds
• Next year – 10 extra beds in an expansion of the Margaret Tobin Centre mental health wards
• Opening 2028 – 98 extra beds in the major new tower block being constructed at the front of Flinders Medical Centre

This year alone, the Government will deliver an additional 72 beds for the south at Noarlunga, Flinders and the Repat, with another 58 next year, totalling 130 by the end of 2025.

That will be followed by a further 98 beds at Flinders in 2028 – expanding inpatient capacity by more than 20 per cent over the next four years in the southern suburbs by delivering a whopping 228 extra beds in total.

Construction of the $74 million expansion of Noarlunga Hospital, which will provide 48 new beds for Adelaide’s growing southern suburbs, is taking shape. It’s the largest ever expansion for the hospital which will increase bed numbers by more than 50 per cent, from 92 to 140 beds.

The project includes a new 24-bed specialist mental health rehabilitation unit and a new 24-bed Adult Medical Inpatient Unit for general medical patients. Both units are set to open in late 2025.

Noarlunga Hospital’s Myles Ward will now see 12 new additional general medicine beds fast tracked by the end of this year. And a new 8-bed outgoing transit lounge is being established at Flinders Medical Centre with the rapid deployment of a modular clinical infrastructure unit before the end of this year.

Artist impressions of the Noarlunga Hospital development, the FMC Acute Services Building and the new GEM ward at Repat Health Precinct can be viewed here.

The Government is focused on building more beds to increase inpatient capacity, improve patient flow and reduce bed-block which contributes to ramping.

August saw further increases in demand on hospitals with 809 more patient presentations at emergency departments than in July, including over nine per cent more Category 1 patients. Despite this, there was a reduction of 255 hours that ambulances spent on the ramp to 5,284 hours for August.

While the State Government is building more beds, the Federal Government needs to meet its aged care responsibilities. There are currently 264 people in Adelaide metro hospitals medically ready for discharge who are stuck due to a lack of aged care or community-based support – equivalent to a Modbury Hospital.

The majority are older South Australians, most of whom are stuck waiting for Federal aged care beds. Right around the country these Federal aged care problems flow right through to emergency departments. In August, there were 129 more long-stay patients in hospitals compared to the same time last year – a 31 per cent increase.

Compared to the same time last year, August saw:

• 10 per cent more ambulance patients taken to hospital
• 7.8 per cent more Triple Zero calls
• 7.3 per cent more drug and alcohol-related ED presentations
• 6.2 per cent more patients in beds every night – or 155 more beds full nightly

Elective surgery admissions to date are now more than 10 per cent higher than the same time last year – equating to 2,756 more patients having their surgery than last year.

Full transfer of care data can be found here.

Quotes

Attributable to Chris Picton

We know we need more beds and that’s exactly what we are building. Over the next four years we are expanding Southern Adelaide’s bed capacity by the equivalent of two Noarlunga Hospitals.

South Australia has the highest proportion of older people on mainland Australia, and as our population grows and ages the demand on our health system increases.

We are determined to ensure we can unblock our emergency departments which is why we are expanding every one of our southern Adelaide sites to bring new beds online as fast as possible.

The only idea the Tarzia Liberals have put forward to reduce ramping is to tax patients.

Attributable to Southern Adelaide Local Health Network Executive Director of Medical Services, Dr Diana Lawrence

All the new builds are gaining significant momentum with construction happening across our three major sites, with work being fast-tracked and delivered as quickly as possible.

The additional Myles Ward beds and new 48-bed inpatient units will enable more people to be treated closer to home in the fast-growing Onkaparinga catchment.

The new beds can’t come fast enough. Our dedicated staff are looking forward to caring for even more people in the South and improving transfer of care times. The additional beds will allow us to move people faster, once their emergency department treatment has been completed.