SA ambulance pressure ramps up ahead of COVID peak
South Australia’s ambulance service is facing a greater number of furloughed staff due to COVID-19 this month than at the peak of January’s Omicron wave, the state’s ambulance union says, as authorities prepare for cases to peak within days.
Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
The Ambulance Employees Association reported at 6pm last night there were 20 priority two emergencies left uncovered and the ambulance service had called its third “Opstat White” status this week.
The status means the ambulance service’s “operational capacity, capability and/or resources are insufficient to maintain effective service delivery for high acuity cases”.
“Significant ramping and ED overcrowding tonight with all adult EDs over capacity,” the union tweeted on Thursday.
“Multiple patients ramped for over four hours at [Flinders Medical Centre] with minimal bed capacity available. Our healthcare workers are working under immense pressure.”
AEA general secretary Leah Watkins said the union had a briefing with the SA Ambulance Service on Thursday morning and was told the pressure on the agency was higher than during the last wave of the virus.
“The workload for the ambulance service and the number of staff furloughed due to COVID or being close contacts is at a worse state now than it was in January at the peak of the Omicron outbreak,” she told InDaily.
“So it’s incredibly concerning.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas on Thursday announced the State Government would be standing up 100 extra “contingency” beds – including 24 intensive care beds at the Royal Adelaide Hospital – to prepare for this month’s surge in COVID-19 cases.
South Australia recorded 5061 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, with virus hospitalisations dropping slightly from 180 to 175 people.
There are currently more than 32,000 active cases across the state, with State Government commissioned modelling predicting daily infections will reach a peak of around 8000-a day within the first two weeks of April.
It comes as figures reported to the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee noted the number of daily COVID-19 cases across Australia increased by more than 76 per cent between March 11 and March 23, while hospitalisations from the virus rose by almost 25 per cent in the same time period.
However, in the two-week period, deaths were down by seven per cent, and the number of patients in ICU had decreased by five per cent nationally.
In a statement, the committee said the increase was driven by the more transmissible BA.2 subvariant of Omicron.
“These trends are aligned with the experience reported internationally,” the statement said.
“We also note forecasting which suggests this current wave will peak around mid-April in many jurisdictions.”
