South Australia has recorded its worst ambulance ramping times for the second month in a row.
New data shows ambulances spent 3,838 hours ramped in June, up from the previous record of 3,412 hours in May.
The latest figures have more than doubled compared to the 1,522 hours spent ramped in February — when the former state government highlighted a 47 per cent decrease in ramping since peak delays were recorded in October last year.
Health Minister Chris Picton, whose Labor government went to the March state election with a focus on ramping, said the latest figures were "clearly unacceptable".
He said the backlog was due to a lack of capacity in the health system, which the government had been working to address by opening as many beds as possible.
"Clearly the issue we are facing is the huge number of people who are stuck waiting for a bed inside our emergency departments every day who need access to beds in the hospitals," he said.
"And that delay, that access block, inside the emergency departments means that people can't get off the ambulance ramp and ultimately people are waiting too long when they need an ambulance in the community."
Adding to the pressure on the state's emergency departments has been ballooning GP wait times, with the state government reporting a 49 per cent increase over the past two years.
People now wait an average of four days to see a GP, and those with respiratory symptoms can face issues getting in at all amid the COVID pandemic.
Mr Picton said delays and difficulties in accessing GPs for respiratory issues has led to more people presenting to emergency departments.
The government will expand four respiratory clinics across Adelaide to try to address that issue.
The $700,000 investment involves expanding centres in Pooraka, Parkside, Athelstone and Old Reynella, which were opened under Federal Government funding in April 2020 for COVID testing, vaccination and assessment.
The clinics will be able to assess and treat people experiencing mild to moderate respiratory symptoms without a referral, in addition to COVID treatment and assessment.
Pooraka will be the first site to expand today, with the others following over the coming weeks.
The expanded centres will operate seven days a week until September.
SA's Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr Emily Kirkpatrick said the respiratory clinics would offer treatment and testing for a range of illnesses.
"Things like asthma flaring up for instance, tonsillitis, a sore ear, some difficulty with a sore throat — all of those things are presentations where you can come to one of these respiratory clinics and be assessed by the nursing and clinical medical team," she said.
Dr Kirkpatrick said the state had seen a rise in cases of influenza and rhinovirus, the main cause of the common cold, over the past couple of weeks.
South Australia recorded 3,809 new COVID-19 cases today with 249 positive patients in hospital, including nine in intensive care.
SA Health's weekly flu statistics, released on Tuesday, showed the state recorded 1,096 cases in the past week and 699 hospitalisations.
