Tired and stressed nurses across Adelaide's major public hospitals will come together next week to consider action over chronic overcrowding amid fears patients' lives are at risk.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation says the move has been prompted by the absence of government measures to alleviate the pressures across the public hospital network.
State secretary Elizabeth Dabars says the SA government is dragging its heels on implementing a "system-wide circuit breaker" to ease demand, especially in emergency departments.
"This action is being driven by extremely tired and stressed nursing staff who simply cannot bear the thought of one more shift during which their patients' lives are put at significant risk," Ms Dabars said.
"After more than 18 months of lobbying a Labor and now Liberal government, our RAH members have realised they can't rely on the government to help them provide safe and effective care for their patients."
Nursing, ambulance officers and clinicians met with Health Minister Stephen Wade last week in a bid to find solutions to the high demand for hospital services.
It has left some patients waiting on ambulance ramps for a number of hours before being admitted while nurses at the Flinders Medical Centre have reported dealing with up to 107 patients in an emergency department designed to handle just 53.
"What's happening in our emergency departments is unsafe, what's happening in our hospital corridors is unsafe and, most certainly, what's happening in ambulances ramped outside our hospitals is unsafe," Ms Dabars said.
The government said it was looking to open transit lounges in metropolitan hospitals to better handle incoming and outgoing patients and had also provided extra beds in country hospitals.
Mr Wade said on Wednesday the government would continue to look at ways to manage the spike in demand for services at the present time and also at longer-term strategies to make public hospitals sustainable.
"We're looking at a whole range of options, short-term, medium-term and long-term," Mr Wade said.
"But we've got to make sure that everything comes together. We've got to make sure that our strategies are viable and credible.
"That's why we're going to continue to work with management and with the unions to make sure that whatever we do has a real impact as soon as possible."
