The Malinauskas Labor Government will deliver a $74 million upgrade of Noarlunga Hospital – the biggest ever capital investment at the site – boosting the number of beds by more than 50 per cent.
The project doubles the number of beds Labor pledged for Noarlunga in the lead-up to the election.
It includes 24 new mental health beds – meeting an election commitment – plus 24 new inpatient medical beds.
A new purpose-built $36 million Mental Health Rehabilitation Service will deliver 24 specialist mental health beds for those with high and complex needs.
In addition, a new $38 million 24-bed Inpatient Medical Unit will also be built.
SA Health and the Department for Infrastructure and Transport have engaged local architecture studios Wilshire Swain Architects and GHDWoodhead to work with clinical teams and consumers to design the hospital upgrade.
Concept planning and clinical consultation will commence in the coming weeks, with construction expected to start on the new units later this year following a competitive tender process.
These upgrades form part of Labor’s plans to deliver over 550 extra beds across the health system funded with $2.4 billion in the latest State Budget.
In addition, construction is also due to start on an expanded renal dialysis unit at Noarlunga Hospital later this month.
A $2.8 million 12-chair dialysis unit will be built in a newly refurbished area of the hospital opposite the main entrance, delivering an extra three chairs than the current unit. The new unit has also been designed by Wiltshire Swain Architects.
These extra beds and investments will provide southern suburbs’ residents with better access to vital healthcare, in turn improving patient flow and reducing pressure on the system – all things which will help address ramping.
Data for December shows transfer of care delays of 3,583 hours, a slight increase of 1.9 per cent compared with November, but still 6.6 per cent down from the high in June.
High acuity emergency presentations (Category 1 and 2) in December were up 17.5 per cent compared to the same time last year with Flinders Medical Centre and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital seeing dramatic increases of 29.5 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.
There were ramping decreases in southern and northern hospitals (Flinders, Lyell McEwin, Noarlunga and Modbury) but increases in central hospitals (Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth). This coincided with an increase in ambulance attendances at the RAH and QEH of more than 8 per cent as COVID hospitalisations peaked at 255 patients in hospital, the highest number since August.
Quotes
Attributable to Health Minister Chris Picton
We are not only delivering on our election commitments – but going further - to build as many beds as we can in our hospital system.
This is an exciting project for Noarlunga Hospital and the southern suburbs. The investment of 48 beds will boost bed numbers at Noarlunga Hospital by more than 50 per cent.
It is welcome news for the community and supports the delivery of improved access to care in Adelaide’s growing southern suburbs.
This will be the biggest investment in upgrading and expanding Noarlunga Hospital we have ever seen. It will mean more beds, more doctors and nurses, and more care locally.
More acute care and more mental health care at Noarlunga will help to reduce access block at our emergency departments at both Flinders and Noarlunga.
Attributable to SAHLN Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Diana Lawrence
We look forward to working with people with a lived experience of mental illness on the design of the mental health unit. People in the south deserve the very best, and we want to work with community to get the design just right.
