Freedom of Information documents have exposed a four-year high in emergency alerts at Adelaide\u2019s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.<\/p>\n
From 2022 to 2025, the number of Code Black alerts, triggered by hospital staff when they feel their own safety or that of others within the building is at risk, rose from 831 to 1542 at the QEH.<\/p>\n
The 86 per cent increase comes as yearly Code Yellow declarations at the Woodville hospital more than doubled from 14 to 40 over the same period.<\/p>\n
The government and Opposition traded barbs over definitions of a Code Yellow declaration, with the Liberal\u2019s defining it as \u201cwhen a hospital has declared an internal emergency and every ward is over capacity or under stress\u201d. <\/p>\n
However, a state government spokeswoman said Code Yellow\u2019s referred to \u201cincidents that affect critical hospital infrastructure and other internal emergencies including power loss, hazardous substance spills and computer network failure\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Sunday while Minister for Health and Wellbeing Blair Boyer was on leave, Housing Minister Nick Champion said \u201ccity hospital\u201d emergency departments, as part of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN), often attracted \u201cdifficult incidents\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe know often it\u2019s caused by mental illness or by drug use or by other complexities \u2026 but we want to see these situations decline,\u201d Mr Champion said.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we don\u2019t want to see disruptive or violent behaviour in EDs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Champion said the government was doing \u201ceverything we can to give resources to CAHLN\u201d to deal with Code Black incidents. <\/p>\n
Shadow Minister for Health and Wellbeing Jack Batty said every Code Black \u201crepresents a situation where staff or patients have felt unsafe\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time Code Blacks are rising, we\u2019re also seeing more Code Yellows being declared because the hospital is under pressure,\u201d Mr Batty said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose trends should not be viewed in isolation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen hospitals are operating under sustained strain, staff are stretched, emergency departments become more crowded and frontline workers are forced to manage increasingly difficult situations.<\/p>\n
\u201c(They) deserve a safe workplace, backed by a health system that isn\u2019t constantly operating under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, patients presenting to the network for mental health concerns had \u201csteadily\u201d increased at both the QEH and the Royal Adelaide Hospital since 2022, a state government spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Queen Elizabeth Hospital has seen a 39 per cent reduction in ramping hours despite an increase of 9.2 per cent in the number of patients presenting to emergency departments,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
She said the QEH ramping hours declined from 3655 to 2228 over the past 12 months following the introduction of a network-wide model that involved 3400 staff members attending 320 meetings to discuss patient outcomes and identify emerging issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Freedom of Information documents have exposed a four-year high in emergency alerts at Adelaide\u2019s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 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