Doctors Fear New Hospital Design May Increase Risk of Death for Women

Stateline

Topic: Women's Health

Magda Halt says some aspects of the new Women's and Children's Hospital design are concerning.

In short:

Doctors have raised significant concerns about the new hospital's design.

They warn that the women's assessment service on the sixth floor could cause critical delays.

What's next?

The Women's and Children's Health Network says staff and unions were consulted about the location of the women's assessment service.

Doctors have significant concerns about the proposed design, claiming women arriving by ambulance could experience life-threatening delays.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists told ABC News the new hospital's adult emergency department was proposed to be located on a different level to the ambulance and resuscitation bays.

There are some aspects in the design that have raised concerns about whether critical services will be close enough together.

The new hospital will be constructed near the Royal Adelaide Hospital on Port Road.

An artist impression of the new Women's and Children's Hospital, which will be built on Port Road.

Work on the hospital's car park is already underway, with construction expected to start next year and be completed by the end of 2031.

The women's assessment service is for women experiencing problems before, during and after birth, as well as women experiencing gynaecological issues.

It is currently proposed to be located on level six of the new Women's and Children's Hospital.

The Women's and Children's Health Network's CEO Rebecca Graham told ABC News the new hospital would have a dedicated lift near the ambulance bay.

This lift can be overridden for urgent transfers.

The new Women's and Children's Hospital will be built at the Thebarton Police Barracks site on Port Road.

Ms Graham told ABC Radio Adelaide on Tuesday that the lift would be located near the resuscitation bays on level one of the hospital.

But Dr Halt said plans showed that lift would transfer women from level one to the delivery suite on level six — not to the women's assessment service.

She said while RANZCOG welcomed investment in the new hospital, it had concerns about the layout.

If the woman does reach the sixth level and something critical happens, we don't have a resuscitation bay up there.

Dr Halt said women requiring emergency care could have conditions that escalate quite quickly.

Union members raise repeated concerns about hospital design.

SA Salaried Medical Officers Association chief industrial officer Bernadette Mulholland said Women's and Children's Hospital clinicians had raised repeated concerns.

Bernadette Mulholland says doctors are concerned about the women's assessment service being located on a different floor.

She said while there had been a great deal of input and engagement with doctors, concerns remained.

The patient, who would have normally gone into the ground floor to get rapid care, they will now have to traverse the lifts and then get to the sixth floor.

That's worrying for them because every second lost for a woman who is acutely unwell is a risk to their health and to their safety.

Health network plans to create 'women's precinct' in new hospital.

The Women's and Children's Health Network declined a request from ABC News for an interview.

In a written statement, the network's CEO Rebecca Graham said staff and unions were consulted last year about the location of the women's assessment service on level six.

The Malinauskas government has become well-versed in the language of cost blowouts.

Ms Graham said the new hospital would have more resuscitation rooms compared to the existing hospital.

These are all new services.

But Dr Halt said the women's resuscitation room would be staffed by paediatric — not adult — specialist doctors.

Concerns for adult intensive care bed plans.

The state government previously promised to fund four adult intensive care beds in the new hospital.

But Dr Halt said it had made no formal agreement or memorandum of understanding about how adult intensive care specialists would staff those beds.

Construction of Adelaide's new Women's and Children's Hospital is expected to be completed by the end of 2031.

She said the plans had just been spoken about but not actually put into writing.

We're very concerned that this needs to happen and call on the government to make this happen before the plans for the new Women's and Children's are finalised.

Ms Mulholland said SASMOA found the lack of planning really concerning.

What's absolutely necessary is the women's ICU.

Ms Graham said the network was currently consulting with clinical staff on the layout and design of the adult ICU.

Rebecca Graham says the new hospital would have a dedicated lift near the ambulance bay.

Ms Graham added that it would take an estimated three minutes for an urgent ambulance transfer between the new Women's and Children's Hospital and the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

But Dr Halt said she believed it could take between 20 to 30 minutes depending on traffic and loading and ambulance access.

It's exactly the same time from both hospitals.

That's why we need to concentrate on better design, because we don't want to be recreating the issues that are currently there.

According to a government website, the design process for the new hospital would continue until next year.

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