Michael Ferguson: New Statistics Further Evidence of Yesterday’s Health System

New data released today on Tasmania’s public hospitals is further evidence of why the Liberal Government’s plan to rebuild the health system from the ground up is so desperately needed.

The statistics, released by the National Performance Authority and updated on the MyHospitals website, show our hospital emergency departments are struggling to cope and meet nationally agreed targets.

Again, I say yesterday’s health system lost sight of the needs of patients and the community – to provide health services well and on time.

The Liberal Government will deliver a health system for tomorrow with whole of system leadership, improved accountability and a review of governance arrangements.

Tasmanians deserve better. Instead of discussing poor governance and culture as we have done this week, we should be focusing on the thousands of Tasmanians who are being forced to wait longer than recommended for their treatment.

In the data released today, none of Tasmania’s hospitals achieved the nationally agreed target in 2013 for patients leaving the ED within four hours of arrival.

When it came to ED waiting times, the RHH was well below the triage benchmarks and peer group averages for categories three and four in the 2013 December quarter.

The LGH was also below these benchmarks although some improvement was noted.

All of Tasmania’s hospitals were below the peer group averages for the proportion of admitted patients who departed the ED within four hours in the December quarter 2013.

The story is no better when it comes to elective surgery performance.

The Royal Hobart Hospital’s performance is of most concern with only 71 per cent of urgent elective surgery patients seen within the recommended timeframe. The hospital’s peer group average was 91 per cent.

Clearly these statistics are yet more evidence of a system in dire need of change.

That’s why the Liberal Government has committed $76m in this term of government towards increasing elective surgery beginning in the next financial year.

However this data is also evidence of yesterday’s health system.

We are now on a path to creating the health system of tomorrow – one that is safe, efficient, effective and sustainable. One that meets the needs of patients first and foremost. And we’ll do it with the help and input from clinicians, health professionals and the community.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health