“Significant ramping and ED overcrowding tonight with all adult EDs over capacity,” the union tweeted on Thursday.xjmtzyw
“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.
