Adelaide hospital ED overwhelmed: patients wait 13 hours
Over 100 patients, including 12 in ambulances, crammed into Lyell McEwin Hospital's emergency department with a capacity of 51 beds on September 8.
Patients at Adelaide's biggest emergency department waited more than 13 hours for treatment as the facility operated far beyond capacity, according to a report the doctors' union submitted to SafeWork SA.
On September 8, more than 100 people were seeking care at Lyell McEwin's ED, which has a 51-bed capacity, with 12 stuck outside in ambulances. Staff set up makeshift treatment areas in waiting rooms, parenting rooms, interview rooms and decontamination rooms.
The union says the ED has been at crisis levels for three months. One patient with a dislocated hip waited hours on an ambulance ramp.
The South Australian government announced 20 new beds would open at the hospital the following week to help ease pressure.
- More than 100
- Patients waiting
- 51 beds
- ED capacity
- 12
- Ambulances outside
- 13 to 14 hours
- Wait time
Why it mattersPatients face dangerous delays and unsafe conditions, while frontline workers are stretched to breaking point in a hospital already overwhelmed for months.
AustraliaSouth Australians needing emergency care face unprecedented waits and substandard treatment conditions at their major city hospital, with bed shortages creating a bottleneck across the health system.
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