Council considers permit for ‘eyesore’ Women’s & Children’s Hospital unit
Adelaide City Council is debating whether to extend a permit for a Women’s and Children’s Hospital overflow unit set up outside the main building during the pandemic.
The hospital is currently using modular treatment units, also known as pods, to help manage the demand of their Paediatric Emergency Department.
These units are located on Sir Edwin Smith Avenue and take up the footpath adjacent to the hospital, five on-street parking bays and one northbound traffic lane. The hospital has requested they remain in place until December 31, 2026.
The council has approved short-term extension requests to allow them to continue being used, but last night’s Infrastructure and Public Works Committee debated when it should stop.
Councillor Carmel Noon visited the site with Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith and said the structure is “really interesting”.
“When you’re actually inside it, it feels very, very permanent, when you’re actually looking outside it looks just like a maintenance shed but they’re doing amazing work and I empathise with them,” she said.
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Councillor Phillip Martin said he’d heard from residents that was difficult to cross the road see traffic lights clearly and there were “unquestionable traffic issues” during peak hour due to the reduced lane.
The council say there have been some questions from residents about what the units are and the impacts on parking, but no significant complaints. Photo: The view of the units from Kermode Street via Adelaide City Council
Women’s and Children’s Health Network’s CEO Rebecca Graham and Paediatric Emergency Department head Dr Jacquie Schutz told the council in a presentation last week that the pods were a quiet, comfortable space for children and families, made patient flow through the department more efficient and improved wait times.
On average, the Paediatric Emergency Department treats 53,000 children per year and has 38 spaces. Currently, there are nine spaces in these pods, with demand anticipated to grow.
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Inside the modular treatment unit. Photo: via Adelaide City Council
In November 2023, Health Minister Chris Picton wrote to the council seeking an extension of the permit to allow the units to stay there until 2031 – in line with the expected completion of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
The council agreed to extend the permit – but only until December 2024.
Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said she’d been that told that the hospital was open to finding an alternative site for the longer term and she believed that if the council granted a further extension, they should hold them to that.
“It’s nothing to do with children, let’s be honest, this is just physically where they put it on the site, children will be maintained in the best possible care wherever this temporary overflow pod sits,” she said.
“But what it is, is it’s a traffic hazard, it’s a pedestrian hazard and it’s an eyesore.”
The rear view of the pods facing South on Sir Edwin Smith Avenue. Photo: Adelaide City Council
Lomax-Smith said she believed the hospital had spent “about $30 million” refitting the ground floor to accommodate the current units, but that it surely “would not be beyond the wit of great designers” to place it in a different location, perhaps around the other side of the hospital.
“Within a year they should have a plan of an alternate site and then we know whether we’re letting ourselves in for another six years, which is what it looks like to me, and do we really want six years of blockage of the road and I think no,” she said.
“It would be better for road safety if they were around the corner.”
The council will vote on a grant extension next week.
