South Australia's successful hotel health service will double in capacity to 48 beds from next month, freeing up acute beds and reducing pressure on emergency departments and ramping.
The Transition Care Service at the Pullman Adelaide, which opened earlier this year, will expand from 24 to 48 beds from early September, across two floors of the hotel.
The service is a joint collaboration between the State Government, Amplar Health Home Hospital and the Pullman Adelaide, providing treatment and care for patients who no longer require hospital care to transition to a more appropriate space.
More than 200 hospital patients have used the service since it opened on 27 February – with 180 patients discharged. Collectively they've spent more than 4,000 days receiving care there – which has meant more than 4,000 bed days have been freed up across our public hospitals.
The majority of patients so far treated at the service have been aged care patients (37 per cent), followed by rehabilitation (32 per cent) and post-operative (12 per cent).
There are currently 280 elderly patients stuck in metro hospitals ready for discharge but awaiting a Federal aged care bed – a 120 per cent increase in just the past 15 months.
Patients are selected for the Transition Care Service based on their clinical needs and are monitored by highly-trained nurses and allied health professionals, providing appropriate care before transitioning home or to a more tailored long-term facility such as an aged-care home.
In addition to out-of-hospital programs like this, the Malinauskas Labor Government is building a bigger health system, including 600 extra beds and adding thousands more doctors, nurses, ambos and allied health workers to create more capacity amid growing pressure.
South Australia's flu season peaked early and hard this year, placing extra strain on our hospitals in July.
In early July, South Australia recorded its highest peak in weekly flu cases in six years, with 2,020 cases and 208 hospitalisations in a single week.
The flu is continuing to impact our hospitals, with 1,128 new cases reported in the past week alone, including 74 hospitalisations. There have been 18,293 flu cases so far this year, including 1,902 hospitalisations, compared to 12,992 flu cases and 1,282 hospitalisations at the same time last year.
Our hospitals also experienced unprecedented demand for general medicine in July with occupancy peaking at 1,025 – the highest level ever recorded.
Last month, ambulances spent 5,866 hours ramped outside hospitals, a nine per cent increase on the previous month.
Ambulances reached 68 per cent of Priority 1 cases in the target timeframe of 8 minutes, compared to only 47.1 per cent in January 2022.
Ambulances reached 54.2 per cent of Priority 2 cases in the target 16-minute timeframe in July, compared to only 36.2 per cent in January 2022. This is equivalent to 2,206 more Priority 2 callouts being seen on time.
There was a large spike in non-urgent priority 5 presentations at the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals last month – up 31 per cent and 74 per cent respectively compared to the same time last year.
Despite the extra pressure, hospitals performed 184 additional elective surgeries compared to July last year.
The Malinauskas Government will add an additional 180 beds across the system over the next six months, including 110 new mental health beds at the Queen Elizabeth, Noarlunga, Flinders, Modbury and Mount Gambier hospitals.
Full ramping data – including a hospital-by-hospital breakdown – can be found here.
As put by Chris Picton
Our Transition Care Service has been a huge success since opening earlier this year so we're doubling its bed capacity.
Already the service has helped more than 200 patients receive high-quality care outside of hospital. That's better for them and better for the health system – freeing up more than 4,000 bed days in our public hospitals for others requiring acute care.
We're looking at every opportunity to safely expand our bed capacity, reduce pressure on our EDs and provide patients with access to high-quality care.
There are currently 280 older South Australians who are medically ready to leave hospital but are stuck there because they're waiting for a Federal aged care bed. That's the equivalent of more than the entire Modbury Hospital taken out of the system.
Services like this are one of the many ways we are providing more health care options for the community, as we build a bigger health system with 600 more beds and thousands more doctors, nurses, ambos and allied health workers.
As put by Amplar Health Chief Executive Robert Read
We congratulate the South Australian Government on its commitment to finding and investing in innovative solutions that support the evolving needs of our health system.
The expansion of the Transition Care Service is a strong example of how thoughtful investment in out-of-hospital models can improve patient flow and deliver better outcomes for the community.
Amplar Health brings experience in healthcare delivery to this collaboration. Our skilled health professionals are committed to supporting South Australians through this important health transition – ensuring patients receive the right care, in the right setting, at the right time.
