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Labor pledges $400m Flinders Medical Centre upgrade

Federal Labor says it will co-fund a $400 million upgrade of the Flinders Medical Centre if it wins this month’s federal election.

May 09, 2022, updated May 09, 2022
Ambulance ramping at Flinders Medical Centre last year. Photo: Ambulance Employees Association

Ambulance ramping at Flinders Medical Centre last year. Photo: Ambulance Employees Association

The upgrade of the Bedford Park hospital in Adelaide’s south will be split equally between the state and federal governments and provide a “major boost” to the 46-year-old facility’s bed capacity, Labor says.

It comes on top of a 24-bed FMC expansion promised by SA Labor during the state election campaign.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and Premier Peter Malinauskas will announce further details about the expansion today.

“Over a decade in office, Scott Morrison has failed to invest in the future of Flinders Medical Centre or help South Australia fix its unprecedented ramping crisis,” Albanese said in a statement.

“I want to partner with Peter Malinauskas to give people in southern Adelaide the medical care they deserve.

“It’s a choice between more of the same, and a better future.”

Malinauskas said the investment would “dramatically” reduce pressure on the state’s overall hospital network.

The FMC emergency department was well above capacity overnight, with SA Health’s ambulance service dashboard showing 95 patients waiting for treatment in the ED, which has capacity for only 69 patients.

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