Enhancing pharmacy services

New initiatives are supporting community pharmacists to provide additional services, improve patient outcomes, and relieve pressure on our health and hospital services.

• Three community pharmacies have been supported to extend to 24/7 operation, providing people with greater access to medication, advice, and care.
• Delivering mental health first aid training to pharmacists and pharmacy staff to improve early identification of mental health issues and provide appropriate initial support.
• Enabling a network of community pharmacies to provide access to palliative care medicine and allowing people approaching end-of-life to receive the treatment they need at home.
• Expanding community pharmacist vaccinations, including for chickenpox, measles, meningococcal, and shingles.
• Providing eligible South Australian women with the option to be assessed and receive medication for a simple urinary tract infection (UTI) or a resupply of their oral contraceptive pill through a local pharmacy without a prescription.

Improved coordination across the system

• The new State Health Coordination Centre provides 24/7 oversight of the entire health system, allowing for a coordinated approach to manage demand and ensure resources are directed where they are needed. This provides a full view of the public health system, enabling patients to move through quicker.
• The consistent, statewide process supports the transfer of all patients between facilities – including return to regional hospitals, community-based, and rehabilitation care.

Supported discharge strategies will get people home sooner and free up hospital beds to relieve pressure on the system.

A range of measures have been introduced, including:

• more clinical staff on weekends
• transit lounges
• earlier patient discharges
• criteria led discharges
• reviewing and increasing options for long-stay patients to access home hospital support packages
• repatriation back to regional hospitals.

Better use of home hospital support packages

Programs are in place to provide patients with treatment in the comfort and privacy of their own home as an alternative to treatment in hospital.

Services like My Home Hospital and SA Community Care provide safe and quality nursing and medical care in a patient’s own home. These services allow people to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own home, reduce strain on emergency departments and keep hospital beds free for the sickest patients.

More clinicians and staff on weekends

We’re funding additional clinicians to be rostered on weekends at major hospitals to boost weekend discharge rates, helping transition patients who are medically ready to return home or to a more appropriate recovery setting and freeing up hospital beds for those who need them most.

Increasing palliative care support

In partnership with the Federal Government, a new Palliative Care Navigation Pilot, Palliative Care Connect, links terminally ill patients with local palliative care support.

Palliative Care Connect:

• increases access to palliative care in the community by giving better information about available services via a dedicated phone line and website
• improves volunteer coordination
• provides access to bereavement support and palliative care navigators.

We have employed 10 more specialist palliative care nurses for patients in regional areas, enabling more people to be cared for closer to home and providing patients with more end-of-life choice.

Getting more ambulances, paramedics and ambulance officers on the road will improve response times and get people the care they need, when they need it.

The State Government is delivering:

• 350 more paramedics, ambulance officers, clinical team leaders, and emergency medical dispatchers
• 24 brand new, upgraded or completely rebuilt ambulance stations
• 36 more ambulances on the road by 2026
• a new SA Ambulance Service Precinct, including an Emergency Operations Centre, State Health Coordination Centre and Adelaide Ambulance Station
• improvements to inter-hospital transfer coordination.

In addition, a new team of 20 specialised ambulance officers have been recruited to better transfer patients out of hospitals, getting them home sooner and freeing up beds for others.

SA Ambulance Service will be introducing an electronic patient care record (ePCR) system, as well as expanding the Clinical Telephone Assessment service and a 24/7 mental health secondary triage role.

While all South Australians should have access to healthcare when they need it, we know a hospital is sometimes not the most appropriate place for them. We’re implementing innovative solutions to keep people healthy and cared for, while reducing pressure on our hospitals and emergency departments.

Securing the future of virtual care service

The SA Virtual Care Service improves access to healthcare across the state by bringing emergency care to adult patients that would normally only be available in an emergency department. The State Government has made this service permanent to continue to reduce pressure on the system and improve the experience for patients.

The free Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service has been made a permanent service and expanded to include mental health. The service connects parents with a virtual team of highly skilled emergency doctors and nurses who can assess and provide medical advice for their children, aged between six months and up to 18 years.

The new Virtual Women’s Assessment Service provides virtual care and referrals for South Australian women with symptoms of early pregnancy loss or gynaecological concerns to receive treatment from the comfort of their own home.

Supporting access to GPs and primary care

The State Government is establishing new primary care services to support people with non-life-threatening conditions, including:

• funding nurse practitioners to work in GP clinics and primary care settings
• implementing a state specific navigation tool to expand on healthdirect services to help people rapidly connect people with urgent care services
• extending the existing healthdirect after hours service to deliver 24-hour access to a virtual GP.
  

Preventive Health SA was established in February 2024 to lead a dedicated program of prevention work to support the health and wellbeing of all South Australians.

The State Government is working with the South Australian Department of Human Services and the Federal Government to support long-stay and NDIS patients, who no longer need acute medical care, to be moved out of hospital and into appropriate community care facilities.

The Patient Support Program helps eligible patients to return home with short-term equipment hire and support services while awaiting their longer-term arrangements. This can include important support at home for NDIS participants who need them, like assistance with meals or showering.

There are also transitional care sites across metropolitan Adelaide to allow NDIS patients and older people to engage with the community, family and friends in a more home-like environment, instead of a hospital setting.

While the State Government is committed to enhancing South Australia’s healthcare system, it also recognises the critical role of its workforce.

More clinical staff

There are employment opportunities for registered nurses, midwives, doctors, paramedics, allied and scientific health, and mental health workers across SA Health.

Since 2022, the State Government has recruited more than 1,400 additional health workers, including more than 690 extra nurses, more than 320 extra doctors, more than 220 extra ambos and more than 190 extra allied health staff which will help staff the extra beds.

Career pathways

An additional 150 placements will be offered for undergraduate nursing students studying at UniSA across Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN). Additional placements will also be offered at Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network (BHFLHN) and Yorke and Northern Local Health Network (YNLHN).

Support for Aboriginal staff and recruitment

Initiatives like the Aboriginal Traineeship Program, the Aboriginal Employment Register and the SA Health Aboriginal Workforce Network are removing barriers to employment and career pathways, enabling Aboriginal people to deliver more care in communities. Ensuring potential applicants, as well as our patients, see themselves in the workforce contributes to enhanced recruitment, retention, and a positive workplace environment.

There are many patients waiting for hours, or even days, in emergency departments to access mental health care. This delays other non-mental health patients from getting access to beds in the emergency department. We need more beds and services where South Australians experiencing a mental health crisis can recover.

The State Government is boosting the number of mental health beds for patients to receive the care they need and free up emergency departments by:

• building 72 new beds across The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Noarlunga Hospital, and Modbury Hospital in brand new mental health wards
• building 10 extra beds in an expansion of the Margaret Tobin Centre at the Flinders Medical Centre
  
• building 10 extra mental health beds in the New Women's and Children's Hospital
• building six additional mental health beds in the Mount Gambier Hospital
• building a new 12-bed mental health ward in the new Mount Barker Hospital, the first inpatient mental health care service in the Adelaide Hills
• building a 16-bed purpose-built Northern Crisis Stabilisation Centre.

We’re also providing additional mental health support and care for patients outside of hospital to help reduce demand on emergency departments by:

• boosting funding for public community mental health teams
• opening 20 mental health community beds
• improving mental health services for children and young people, including the recruitment of an additional 10 child psychologists and five psychiatrists working in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, six additional specialty mental health nurses at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and 100 new mental health and learning support specialists to work at public schools
• opening Safe Haven – a first of its kind, drop-in mental health service in northern Adelaide which offers a calm and inviting community space
• funding a Mental Health Co-Response Unit trial for a mental health clinician to accompany police to conduct on site assessments of people experiencing a mental health crisis, avoiding the need for emergency department visits
• boosting mental health funding for non-government organisations to enable more South Australians to receive psychosocial community mental health support
• supporting additional education services, online support groups and seminars for carers and families of those with eating disorders
• expanding the Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service at the Women’s and Children’s Health Network to include mental health
• supporting mental health workshops for parents of children and young people experiencing mental health challenges
• partnering with the Federal Government to open a Kids Mental Health Hub in southern Adelaide and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre in the Adelaide CBD
  
• supporting the Federal Government to open Medicare Mental Health (formerly Head to Health) walk-in centres in Mount Barker, Mount Gambier, Port Pirie and Elizabeth. The Elizabeth site will be co-located with a state-funded urgent care and 16-bed Crisis Stabilisation Centre.