The Malinauskas Labor Government has reversed the former Liberal Government's budgeted plans to sell off the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, and instead will use the site to open new beds for patients stuck in hospital waiting for federal aged care.
This initiative, designed to mitigate bed block experienced in our busy hospitals, coincides with the launch of an emotive and hard-hitting advertising campaign urging South Australians to respect our hard-working frontline health workers.
The plan will reopen wards newly vacant following the relocation of the rehabilitation beds to the new $314 million Queen Elizabeth Hospital Clinical Services Building in recent weeks. This will create 55 additional hospital beds in the system.
The Hampstead site was slated to be sold by the former Liberal Government, a decision that would have stripped the health system of a crucial health site and beds at a time when demand continues to increase.
The Care of the Older Person and Community Transition (CO-ACT) service proposes to establish 70 beds which is made up of 50 beds for eligible older patients and 20 for low complexity Memory Support Unit patients.
To ensure the beds are fit for purpose as soon as possible, works will now be fast-tracked over coming months to upgrade back-of-house facilities, upgrade the nurse call system, install lighting to support the vulnerable patient cohort, and develop a new nursing station. The model of care is undergoing consultation with staff and industrial bodies.
Meanwhile, the "Respectful Behaviours Campaign", set to hit TV screens from Sunday, highlights the unacceptable abuse copped by our health workers and calls for respect for our doctors, nurses, ambos and other health workers.
The campaign is backed by six health unions and draws from real-life experiences of our public hospital staff, featuring actual health workers and actors, and will be supported by press, radio, outdoor, digital, and hospital-based advertising. Campaign visuals can be accessed here.
This campaign adds to the improved security measures that have already been put in place as the Malinauskas Labor Government works to implement the ANMF's 10-point plan to end violence and aggression in our hospitals.
This includes the employment of security guards across major regional hubs, as well as fit-for-purpose technology and design throughout the suite of new health infrastructure currently under construction and already delivered.
Our hospital system is under extreme pressure from years of underinvestment by successive governments which has been exacerbated by people who are unable to access their GP, Federal aged care and NDIS support. These issues have significantly contributed to a total of 5,539 hours lost to ramping in July.
All our hospitals have been extremely full throughout July – with a huge increase of 133 more patients in hospital on a nightly basis compared to last month.
There are currently a staggering 273 people in Adelaide metro hospitals who are medically ready for discharge but are forced to stay due to a lack of aged care or community-based support. Astonishingly, nearly 80 per cent of these individuals are older South Australians, most of whom are stuck waiting for Federal aged care beds.
In addition, general medicine inpatients in metro hospitals peaked in July this year with 1086 patients across acute medical and geriatric units. This is a huge increase of 42 per cent since November 2022.
There were also 1290 more Triple Zero calls and 999 more ambulance attendances at hospital compared to July last year.
Despite the Code Yellow in place, July saw an increase of over 15 per cent in elective surgery operations compared to the same time last year, meaning 495 more people had their elective surgery compared to last July.
SA Health Chief Executive Dr Robyn Lawrence has decided that from 16 August the current Code Yellow will conclude with the incident management framework being utilised, transitioning to a central co-ordination model to manage ongoing demand.
This will include maintaining some of the initiatives introduced during the Code Yellow, including improved processes around repatriation of regional patients, increased co-ordination around the distribution of mental health patients and maximising out of hospital care strategies.
As put by Chris Picton
Opening more beds at Hampstead – which the former Liberal Government planned to close – will create more capacity in our hospital system.
Right now, there are more than 200 older South Australians who are waiting for an aged care bed who are medically ready to leave hospital. That's the equivalent of the entire Modbury Hospital taken out of the system.
This is putting extreme strain on hospitals around the country, and we continue to call on the Federal Government to address this critical issue.
While the State Government is set to open more than 330 more beds by the end of next year, we need the Federal Government to meet their aged care responsibilities.
Any abuse against health workers is abhorrent. Today we launch a powerful campaign that clearly shows what health workers are subject to.
It is simply not acceptable, and our incredible health workers deserve to be treated with the respect they deserve.
The vast majority of patients do the right thing, but this campaign is a message to the small minority that abuse of any health care worker is not acceptable.
As put by Department of Health and Wellbeing Chief Executive Officer, Dr Robyn Lawrence
We have the equivalent of a Modbury Hospital currently taken up by patients in our hospitals who should be being looked after in aged care and other more appropriate settings.
We want to create an environment that suits the needs of older persons which is why we have invested $5 million into patient area maintenance and new tailored equipment with works already under way learning from our dementia and older person friendly projects across SA Health.
We also want to raise public awareness of the challenging behaviours being encountered by staff across our SA Health worksites.
When people become angry, upset, or abusive towards staff, it affects the ability of staff to do their job. It can also take a personal toll on their mental and physical wellbeing.
This behaviour is also potentially a criminal offence, and we will certainly involve the police where necessary.
As put by Central Adelaide Local Health Network Executive Director Operations and Performance, Rachael Kay
In designing the new Hampstead model for consultation, we utilised feedback from staff gathered earlier in the year to influence the design. We also considered what other networks are doing well with similar patient models and continue to speak directly with consumers and their families.
The 70 beds available in this new service are proposed to support 20 low complexity Memory Support Unit patients and a 50-person unit for eligible older patients.
Located amongst spacious gardens, Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre provides an environment for these patients, similar to many residential aged care facilities.
