A new health service for older people in Adelaide's northern suburbs is set to open as one of the state's busiest hospitals continues to deliver a massive improvement in ramping.
The Older Person's Emergency Review and Assessment (OPERA) clinic is a new, dedicated out-of-hospital healthcare service located at the Playford Health Hub, adjacent to the Lyell McEwin Hospital. It will open by the end of the year.
The OPERA clinic will be a similar model to the successful CARE service at Daw Park that focuses on treating older patients as an alternative to hospital.
These types of services are one of the contributors to a 42 per cent decrease in ramping in November compared to July, from 5,539 hours in July 2024 down to 3,224 hours last month.
This is also a 25 per cent improvement on the same month last year when ambulances were ramped for 4,285 hours in November 2023.
This reduction in ramping follows the State Government opening more beds across the health system. Forty-eight new beds opened at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in August, and 25 extra beds came online in November at the new Care of the Older Person and Community Transition Service at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre.
It's even better news at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, which has seen a 63 per cent improvement in ramping in the past four months, from 847 hours in July down to 313 hours in November.
It's the best ramping result at the Lyell McEwin Hospital since 2022, and is the fourth straight month of improvement.
Flinders Medical Centre has also improved 44 per cent since July, and November's total of 808 hours is its lowest figure since April 2023.
Ambulance response times have also improved compared to January 2022 under the former Liberal Government.
In November 2024, 67.3 per cent of Priority 1 cases were reached within the recommended time of eight minutes, compared to 47.1 per cent in January 2022.
For Priority 2 cases, 59.3 per cent of call-outs were responded to within the recommended time of 16 minutes compared to just 36.2 per cent under the Liberals in January 2022. This resulted in 2,386 more Priority 1 and Priority 2 cases seen on time in November 2024 compared to January 2022.
The OPERA clinic aims to ease demand at the Lyell McEwin hospital's Emergency Department, which currently deals with about 1,400 presentations from people aged 65 and over each month, which is around 30 per cent of all presentations.
OPERA will provide a seven-bed treatment space for people aged 65 years and over, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 50 years and over.
Staffed by specialist Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) clinicians including geriatricians, nurses, allied health and pharmacy staff, the treatment centre will provide urgent complex and restorative care to older people who would otherwise present to an emergency department.
The multidisciplinary team will provide support to patients including those living with chronic disease, dementia, experiencing recurrent falls or frequent unplanned hospital admissions.
Patients will be directed to OPERA through SA Ambulance Service with clinicians assessing each patient to determine if their care needs would be better met through OPERA instead of in hospital.
Full ramping data – including a hospital-by-hospital breakdown – can be found here.
As put by Chris Picton
We are getting on with the job of building a bigger health system and getting patients the treatment they need and we know there is still more to do.
Older people often present to our emergency departments with complex but non-urgent conditions which can mean they face longer wait times while clinicians deal with other patients experiencing life-threating issues.
That's why services such as OPERA are important. They allow older people to access the right level of care and in the right environment.
Not only does this offer the patient a much better experience, it also frees up capacity in our EDs and reduces bed-blocking that leads to ramping.
As put by Zoe Bettison, Member for Ramsay
As the local member for Ramsay, I am delighted to see the opening of this new specialised service for older people.
This will not only provide quality care with the patients they treat, but it will also free up more space in the Lyell McEwin's emergency department.
As put by NALHN Divisional Director Aged Care, Rehabilitation and Palliative Care, Dr Alice Bourke
OPERA will offer our older population access to a more appropriate, convenient and efficient pathway to specialised geriatric care, without having to present to and wait in an emergency department.
Our OPERA team works solely with older patients and therefore understands the unique challenges faced by this patient cohort. They are committed to supporting and enhancing the lives of NALHN's older population.
