Ginny Chalmer, a 71-year-old woman from Adelaide suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, spent four hours lying on the floor at Noarlunga Hospital while waiting for treatment. Upon arrival by ambulance due to worsening symptoms, she was initially deemed "fit to sit" but later chose to lie down due to feeling unwell. Chalmer criticized the lack of privacy in the waiting room and called her experience "totally wrong." SA Health has apologized and will review the incident, stating that patients are not typically treated on the floor but sometimes receive preliminary care in the waiting area to expedite treatment.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In short:
An Adelaide woman says she spent four hours on the floor of the Noarlunga Hospital when seeking treatment for a chronic lung condition.
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she → say → condition
Ginny Chalmer, 71, attended the hospital by ambulance on Wednesday.
What's next?
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What → attend → Wednesday
SA Health has apologised to Ms Chalmer and says it will conduct a review of the matter.
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it → apologise → matter
A woman has detailed how she spent four hours on the "cold floor" of an Adelaide public hospital while seeking treatment for a lung condition, calling her experience "totally wrong".
Ginny Chalmer, 71, lives with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition which causes shortness of breath and impacts her oxygen levels.
The former nurse of 10 years was diagnosed earlier this year and attended a doctor on Wednesday, when her symptoms worsened after catching a virus.
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symptoms → detail → virus
She was advised her oxygen levels were low and was sent in an ambulance to Noarlunga Hospital for further treatment.
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levels → advise → treatment
Ms Chalmer said when she arrived, she was placed in a wheelchair and taken to a waiting room where a paramedic deemed her "fit to sit" despite telling staff she thought she was not.
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she → say → staff
She said she "felt so unwell" while sitting that she made the choice to lay down on the floor.
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she → say → floor
"At first, I was just lying on the cold floor, I didn't want to make an issue about it … then a nurse came in and asked me to get up,"Ms Chalmer said.
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Chalmer → lie → me
"I said, 'no, I need to stay lying down, could you get me a blanket so I could lie on it?' and so they got me a blanket."
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they → say → blanket
Ms Chalmer said she was quickly seen by a "lovely doctor" who told her she wanted to start treatment quickly — but was told the hospital did not have any beds available to put her in.
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hospital → say → her
"They did bloods, they did nasal swabs and things like that [on the floor] — it wasn't that invasive, it just shouldn't happen," she said.
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she → do → floor
She was also "horrified" about the privacy of other patients in the waiting room after overhearing details about people's conditions and outcomes.
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She → horrify → conditions
"I just thought, 'wow, what about the confidentiality?'"
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I → think → confidentiality
Ms Chalmer said.
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Chalmer → say → ?
"Now, I know everything about this man that's actually sitting there, I just couldn't believe it was actually taking place."
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it → know → place
Health network to investigate
SA Health said it had apologised to Ms Chalmer and would undertake a review of her experience.
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it → investigate → experience
"We do not put patients on the floor for treatment," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"
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spokesperson → put → statement
On occasion, we do commence some treatment for eligible patients in the waiting room to ensure treatment can start as quickly as possible.
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treatment → commence → room
The safety of our patients and staff is a key priority, and this helps reduce the time people need to wait and reduces the time people need to stay in hospital."
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people → help → hospital
Liberal Opposition Health spokesperson Jack Batty said he was shocked to hear about Ms Chalmer's "floor care" experience and labelled it "entirely unacceptable".
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he → say → it
"Having a 71-year-old woman lying on the ground in a public waiting room for four hours, being treated … with no privacy, is totally unacceptable," he said.
"
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he → have → privacy
These sorts of conditions are absolutely disgraceful — they should never take place in a system in South Australia."
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they → take → Australia
Acting Health Minister Joe Szakacs said there was no mandate or practice "to treat people on our floors".
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Szakacs → act → floors
"The individual felt the need to lie down, that's entirely appropriate for her to choose to do," he said.
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he → feel → need
"Our nurses and doctors provide the care they have to provide, often in circumstances which are far from linear and far from easy.
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which → provide → circumstances
I think in this circumstance, the doctors and nurses involved did so in a way we should commend."
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we → think → way
Mr Szakacs said South Australia's hospital network remained busy for a number of reasons, including a lack of available aged care beds and rising presentations from flu cases.
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network → say → cases
"Nonetheless, the local health network is taking a look at this, I think that's also appropriate and where things can be improved or done differently ...
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things → take → this
[it] is always committed to doing that," he said.
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he → commit → that
He added that patient confidentiality was "non-negotiable" and would form part of the review.
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confidentiality → add → review
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