FLINDERS Medical Centre will become the state’s biggest emergency department — with more treatment areas than the $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital — under a $86 million investment in southern suburbs health facilities.

The move aims to ease ramping at the chronically overloaded ED and ease pressure on hospitals across the city.

The 30 extra treatment areas including 12 standard bays will boost FMC’s ED to 83 spaces, compared with 77 at the state’s flagship hospital the RAH.

The Southern Health Expansion Plan also includes 45 more full-time doctors, specialists and nurses plus two additional emergency extended care unit beds.

Premier Steven Marshall said the investment will make a difference across the network including to the RAH and even Lyell McEwin Hospital.

media_camera The entrance to Flinders Medical Centre - its emergency department will become SA’s biggest under an $86m plan. Picture: AAP / Mike Burton

“This landmark investment will ease pressure on emergency departments across the hospital network, providing better health services to the people of South Australia,” he said.

Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade said the investment would help address the unprecedented demand across southern hospitals.

“We’ll expand the FMC emergency department by an additional 30 treatment spaces to ensure the hospital is better equipped to meet growing demand, in turn significantly reducing ambulance ramping and easing pressure on EDs across the system,” he said.

An extra $45.7 million (indexed) over the next four years has been committed to support the expansion of ED service.

The first step is transferring dementia and complex care-needs patients from Noarlunga Hospital’s 16-bed Myles Ward to a new 12-bed acute specialist facility in the Repat Health Precinct.

This will enable an acute medical ward to move from FMC to Noarlunga Hospital, creating space for the FMC ED expansion and also preventing the need for up to 100 ambulance transfers a week that now go to the RAH from FMC in busy periods.

As reported by The Advertiser, increasing Noarlunga’s ability to admit patients expected to stay more than 24 hours will reduce ambulance transfers to FMC by about 1000 a year, further easing ramping.

Southern Adelaide Local Health Network Clinical Director of Emergency Services Dr Andrew Blyth welcomed the move.

“We have seen a 15 per cent increase in presentations in FMC ED over the past five years, and we’re on track to treat a record 90,000 patients this year – the highest of any South Australian public hospital – so the plan will significantly improve patient access across our southern health services,” Dr Blyth said.

“By treating patients in the most appropriate environment, we will enhance and build the clinical capacity at Noarlunga Hospital, subsequently reducing pressure on the FMC ED and becoming more self-sufficient in managing ED presentations from across our catchment area.

“The increased capacity within the FMC ED will also ensure doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals have more spaces to treat patients faster.”

SA Ambulance Service chief executive David Place said the plan will significantly improve ramping across the health system.

“Over the last five years, we have seen increases in the wait time for patients transferred from our ambulances to clinicians in FMC, which is detrimental to both patients and our paramedics,” Mr Place said.

“Once the Plan has been fully implemented, we will see reduced ambulance transfers from Noarlunga Hospital to FMC, and our paramedics will be able to return to the road sooner to service the community in the south.”

All changes in place by the second half of 2021.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas and health spokesman Chris Picton both welcomed more investment in health but noted ramping had doubled since the last election — and said the announcement was a distraction from the government’s clumsy response to the ICAC report into SA Health.