Review recommends hospital cut staff AN independent review has recommended Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital cut 85 staff and 30 beds. The review found the hospital was 20 per cent less efficient that similar hospitals interstate, blaming longer hospital stays by patients for pushing up operating costs. If all its recommendations are adopted the hospital would save $19 million a year on top of the $7 million already cut through efficiency measures. South Australian health chief executive David Swan said the staff cuts would be achieved by 2015/16 and there would be no need for forced redundancies. Bed numbers would be cut by reducing the length of stay for patients who are ready to go home. "Advances in medicine and technology mean that patients need to stay in hospital for less time, which in turn would allow those beds to be used more efficiently," he said. If adopted, these proposed changes would assist the hospital to continue to maximise efficiency and to move further towards the national performance results of its interstate peers. The review has been released for a six-week public consultation period.