The appointment of high priced consultants Bespoke Approach by the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (NRAH) consortium is a clear indication there are major problems with the project.
Companies don’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on expensive troubleshooters part way through a major project unless they have grave concerns about the project.
Information provided to the State Liberal Party indicates significant problems have now been identified with the actual planning and design of the hospital. These problems are in addition to the ongoing dispute between Premier Weatherill’s Labor Government and the consortium over the costs of the remediation of the land at the NRAH site.
“It seems clear that the Weatherill Labor Government’s mismanagement of the project will lead to project delays and increased costs to taxpayers,” said Shadow Health Minister Rob Lucas.
“Concerns about this project have been building since late last year and the Legislative Council Budget and Finance Committee has resolved to conduct a specific enquiry into the NRAH project.
“In March this year evidence was taken from a representative of the HYLC Joint Venture consortium and next month the AMA, SASMOA and ANMF will all give evidence on planning and design issues of the NRAH project.
“Many clinicians have raised significant concerns about the design of the NRAH, such as the location and design of the emergency department, the intensive care unit and the transfusion service area.
“These clinicians say they were never properly consulted about the design and it is only now that major problems with the current design have been identified. They are very critical of the Government and SA Health for their refusal to consult widely before final design decisions were taken.
“Clinicians say they were promised by the Weatherill Government that all services and facilities from the old RAH would be replaced at the NRAH. However, they now find in many cases this promise has been broken.
“Adelaide University vice-Chancellor Professor Warren Bebbington also has advised the State Liberal Party they were originally promised 5,000 square metres of space in the NRAH for their clinical and training requirements – consistent with what they have at the old RAH.
“However, that promise of 5,000 square metres of space was reduced to 2,000 square metres earlier this year.
“The Labor Government claimed the cost of this hospital would be $2.1 billion and taxpayers will be paying about $400 million per year for 30 years until 2046.
“Taxpayers will be furious with Mr Weatherill and Mr Snelling if they find that financial mismanagement of the project by the Labor Government will lead to ever higher costs and project completion delays.”