Flu warnings as Lyell McEwin faces ‘crisis’ levels
The Health Minister is urging older South Australians to get vaccinated as flu cases spike. Meanwhile, the Liberals warn one SA hospital is in crisis.
Health Minister Blair Boyer has called for older people at risk of severe illness to get an annual flu vaccine, as flu presentations fill SA’s already busy hospitals.
SA recorded its highest number of weekly flu cases so far in 2025 in an “unusually late” season, Boyer said, with 917 cases and 118 patients needing to be hospitalised.
“At a time when we are responding to both a significant flu season and a measles outbreak, the message from public health experts is clear – vaccines work,” Boyer said.
“South Australians should have confidence in the science, the evidence and the advice of our health professionals.”
It comes as Lyell McEwin Hospital’s emergency department has experienced “crisis levels” for the past three months, according to the SA Salaried Medical Officers Association.
The union representatives lodged a report to SafeWork earlier this month saying 12 patients were waiting on the ramp, there was overcrowding, and “no bed flow sufficient to deal with demand”.
In response, Boyer announced a temporary 20-bed unit opened at Lyell McEwin on Monday as part of a range of measures to “improve patient flow”.
But Liberal health spokesperson Jack Batty said the situation at Lyell McEwin still required urgent attention.
Batty will be joined by the family of an Elizabeth Park patient, Michael McLean, at the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, the family saying Michael was ramped for more than nine hours this week.
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Michael’s sister Alison Marsh said: “Michael is non-verbal and wasn’t able to express his severe discomfort as he spent all of that time on the hospital ramp”.
“It wasn’t until I spoke of my frustration on social media that he was finally admitted to the hospital and given the care that he needed,” she said.
“The paramedics did an amazing job of caring for my brother – as did the staff at the hospital when he was finally admitted. This isn’t their fault – it’s the system.”
Batty said Michael’s story was “heartbreaking”.
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