New Royal Adelaide Hospital stays as super site to handle major accidents, strokes and heart attack urgencies
The piano in the Royal Adelaide Hospital concourse was part of its centre for creative health.
The new Royal Adelaide Hospital, opened in 2017 with a transfer of patients from the east to the western end of North Terrace, remained central to the Transforming Health vision as a super site for treating major accidents and emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.
Aside from early glitches including a power outage from a software failure and ongoing overcrowding and workspace problems in the emergency department, the hospital brought significant overall improvements to patient care.
After being delayed by disputes, the $2.4 billion hospital’s opening offered more than the old Royal Adelaide Hospital in all categories.
Projected to handle 80,00 admissions a year, the new hospital had 800 beds (100 of them same-day) all in single rooms. Old hospital: 650 overnight beds. Intensive care capacity rises rose 42 beds to 60 including quarantine rooms for infectious diseases. The helipad had space for two aircraft. MRIs are also increased from two to four.
The new hospital had 2,300 onsite carpark spaces (600 for visitors and patients) plus 300 bike spaces compared to the old’s hospitals 1400 carpark spaces.
Other features of the new hospital included:
• Centres for major trauma, stroke victims and complex elective surgery plus state-wide acute rehab services for brain injury.
• The emergency department below critical areas, such as pathology and blood transfusion, trauma and emergency theatres, the intensive care unit and helipad.
•The emergency department had 70 glass-door cubicles (the old hospital 59) and eight (old: four) resuscitation rooms, each with an X-ray machine. (Criticised as not large enough for clinicians, although meeting Australian guidelines.)
• Patients assessed by a senior staff member at the front desk and taken to the diagnostic assessment unit.
• Bedside registration rather than in the waiting room.
• A cancer day centre with 42 chemotherapy treatment spaces, modern chairs, natural light and soundproofing.
• The $4 million laboratory that helped fully automate testing of specimens, including blood, urine and wound swabs, and speed up results by 40% and improved efficiency and accuracy in the lab, where more than 400,000 patient samples were incubated each year.
• Rahbots – 25 automated guided vehicles – delivered items from the automated pharmacy dispensing cabinets.
• Response to major disasters such as a chemical spill, with showers for mass decontamination of white powder.
• A centre where patients can take part in trials of drugs of technology as part of their treatment.
• A centre for creative health where image making, design, music and health programs to improve the quality of patient healthcare. Five gallery spaces feature the artwork from patients, staff and painters. A piano was on the main concourse.