Elective surgery cancelled in South Australia in worst flu season on record
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Version 0 of 1. South Australia is in the grip of its worst flu season on record, forcing elective surgery to be cancelled as hospital admissions soar. The state government has activated a winter demand strategy for metropolitan hospitals, cancelling most elective surgery and moving some patients to nearby country hospitals to free up beds. The government will assess the situation each day but the health minister, Jack Snelling, says the provisions are likely to remain in force for the next four to six weeks, partly because of the severe flu season. “Flu notifications are running at about three times the level of last year and last year was a record flu year,” he said on Wednesday. “The other problem we have is our own staff fall ill. “So as well as coping with an increase in demand, sometimes we’re having to do that with fewer staff.” Snelling said city hospitals had their busiest day this winter on Tuesday and some emergency departments were operating at well over capacity. “We really want to clear those emergency departments to ensure they don’t get clogged up,” he said. “We would still be very, very busy, I would expect, for the next four to six weeks.” |