Dangerous overcrowding in Adelaide’s hospitals has continued into the new year, with five out of six metropolitan hospitals operating over capacity today.
The SA Health emergency department dashboard revealed that the Lyell McEwin Emergency Department had been running over capacity since at least 4pm yesterday.
At 3:30pm, 15 patients were waiting to be seen, with an average wait time of 130 minutes:
Flinders Medical Centre, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Modbury Hospital and Royal Adelaide Hospital were also over capacity and struggling to cope with demand.
Shadow Health Minister Rob Lucas said regular overcrowding at all metropolitan hospital emergency departments was deeply concerning.
“Sadly, after almost 12 years of Labor mismanagement of our health system, dangerous overcrowding in hospital emergency departments is becoming a regular occurrence,” said Mr Lucas.
“The Weatherill Labor Government has mismanaged our public health system for so long that our hospitals are regularly forced to operate under dangerous circumstances.
“After almost 12 years, the Weatherill Labor Government simply cannot be trusted to manage South Australia’s health system.
“South Australians deserve a Government with better priorities to put our State back on track.”