IT’S been years in the making but doctors say they’ve been kept in the dark about the development of the new $1.8 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital.
THE 800-bed hospital, touted as the single largest infrastructure project in South Australia’s history, is due to open in April 2016.
But issues with a proposed electronic patient record system and a dispute over soil contamination at the site have raised concerns about whether the project will be finished on time. Doctors say there’s been a lack of transparency on how the hospital will operate and whether it will have sufficient capacity as the state’s largest public hospital. SA Salaried Medical Officers Association spokesman David Pope told a parliamentary committee on Monday that a lack of preparation could have a major impact on patients. “There is little evidence of detailed planning at this time, so it is hard to be confident that all the necessary arrangements are in place for a trouble-free move,” he said. “So-called teething problems in hospital can and do have serious consequences for those unlucky enough to be patients at the time.” Australian Medical Association SA president Patricia Montanaro said there was a lack of detail about plans to co-locate the Women’s and Children’s Hospital at the new RAH site. She said it was unclear whether plans were in place to prevent ramping – the prolonged queuing of ambulances outside hospitals – during seasonal surges in patient numbers. The government is consulting doctors about delivering more efficient treatment and improving the flow of hospital patients through its Transforming Health reform process.