Physio Crisis at LGH

A memo set to be circulated across the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) foreshadows a significant reduction of services as a result of Corporate Vacancy Control and Budget pressure being placed on the Hospital by Departmental bureaucrats.

A memo which is to be circulated across all clinical areas in the Hospital outlines a “significant level of vacancies within the Physiotherapy Department”. As of the 23rd of January there will only be 3.5 Physiotherapists to service the entire hospital including ICU,5A,5B, AMU, 5D, 6D, Stroke Unit and 4K and no funded Senior Physiotherapist for the Acute Sector.

The memo highlights that a majority of Priority 2 and 3 patients will not be assessed or reviewed by a physiotherapist for long periods of time, which could mean anything from over a week to “not at all”.

It is understood that the low levels of staffing directly relates to the need for approval for positions to be filled by Hobart based bureaucrats who have little understanding of service or clinical need in the LGH. It is understood that the restrictions on filling the vacancies is not associated with the budget savings strategy announced by the LGH CEO but is linked to officers in Hobart who are actively investigating ways of gouging more savings from our four major hospitals.

Tim Jacobson, Acting State Secretary of the Health and Community Services Union said today “The crisis at the LGH Physiotherapy Department confirms our concern that in spite of the Government’s continuing rhetoric that there is a clear strategy in relation to budget cuts that no such strategy exists. To delay filling critical positions such as these shows a clear lack of strategy and callous disregard for patient care.”

HACSU is seeking an urgent meeting with management to determine when the vacancies will be filled.

How to run a hospital:
Get some patients – Yes Minister, BBC