The proposed expansion of the emergency department (ED) at the Gawler Health Service, due to open in late 2023, will not have enough beds on the day it opens, according to documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws.
Local Member of Parliament, Mr Tony Piccolo said documents, which the Marshall Liberal Government tried to keep secret, but recently released at the direction of the Statement Ombudsman, show that there will be shortage of 5 treatment beds when the new ED opens and will be short by 11 beds by 2036/37.
When announced by Health Minister Stephen Wade last year, the new ED was meant to meet the needs of the increasing Gawler population.
Mr Piccolo said the $15 million proposal was announced when the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission had mooted a significant change to the Schubert and Light Electoral Districts to combine Gawler and the Barossa, and it is clear that this proposal was announced for short term political purposes as it will not meet the needs of Gawler from day one.
“The proposal has been designed to fit a poorly funded budget and not the needs of local residents,” said Mr Piccolo.
“Of greater concern is there is no existing commitment to fund additional staff to cater for the additional beds, nor an increase in beds in the main part of the hospital.”
“While the upgrade is welcome, it could be similar to the hospital from iconic TV show, Yes Minister where the best run hospital in the country had no medical staff and was not treating any patients.”
“Having a brand-new emergency department is great, but we need more doctors, more nurses and also more than one ambulance to service the area.”
“Basically, what the Marshall Liberal Government are providing is a $15m waiting room, where patients seeking treatment will be parked, or ramped, until they can be re-routed to the Lyell McEwin or elsewhere if necessary.”
“I think this commitment was made in October 2020 to expand the emergency department at the Gawler Health Service as a knee-jerk response to lobbying by local doctors and people for better health services.”
The proposal went before the State Parliament’s Public Works Committee last week,
Where Department officials from SA Health were quizzed by the Committee members and Mr Piccolo raised a number of questions about the future of the Gawler Health Service.”
According to SA Health, the forecast population for the local government area of Gawler will exceed 37,000 residents by 2036. As a result, presentations to the Gawler Health Service emergency department is expected to grow to over 24,000 by 2031-32.
Mr Piccolo is concerned that the entire project planning has been rushed and questioned SA Health on the project budget and if the hospital can meet future demand.
Mr Piccolo said from what I can gather, at that time the budget was set for this project, there were no designs or locations identified at the time.”
“That does raise questions about whether this project is designed to fit a budget or whether the budget actually reflects the true projected needs of this community.”
As an example, I understand the budget has already been increased by somewhere between $1.5 million and $2 million to allow for a lift in the building which actually wasn't budgeted for.
“The question remains then: if some modelling and planning has been done for this proposal, up to what date is it anticipated this service would be sufficient, that the extension would actually meet the demands in the future—in other words, is it 2030, 2035, etc.? The hospital currently has 35 beds. Are 35 beds enough if you are expanding the ED service and expecting more customers?”
SA Health told the committee that tenders will be released in April or May next year. The main construction is anticipated to commence in July 2022 and will be staged to allow the existing emergency department to remain operational throughout the redevelopment.
Completion of all work is not expected until the end of 2023 at the earliest