Arabic version: النقابة تبلغ عن فترات انتظار طويلة في طوارئ لايل ماكيوين

According to ABC News, patients at Lyell McEwin Hospital’s emergency department faced waits of more than 13 hours in early September, with the South Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Association saying the department had been operating at “crisis levels” for months.

A union representative visited the hospital on September 8 and submitted allegations to SafeWork SA. The report said more than 100 people were seeking care in an emergency department with capacity for 51 patients. It also alleged that 12 people were waiting outside in ambulances, while makeshift treatment areas had been established in the waiting room.

The representative reported that patients were treated in parenting, interview and decontamination rooms. Doctors said people were generally waiting between 13 and 14 hours to be seen, according to the report. One patient with a dislocated hip was said to have waited for hours on the ramp in an ambulance.

Bernadette Mulholland, the union’s chief industrial officer, said doctors in the department were distressed and described the situation as distressing for both patients and frontline health workers. The union representative also submitted that workers had reported emergency department capacity at crisis levels for the previous three months.

SA Health Minister Blair Boyer apologised to patients who had waited hours for treatment, saying presentation and waiting numbers were unprecedented. The state government said 20 additional beds would open at Lyell McEwin Hospital on Monday for older patients who no longer need acute treatment but are awaiting long-term care. Mr Boyer said patients waiting for aged-care beds across the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network were putting pressure on hospital capacity. Opposition spokesperson Josh Teague criticised the minister’s response.