Andrew Wilkie: A STATEMENT ON THE STATE GOVERNMENT’S HEALTH ANNOUNCEMENT

The Tasmanian Government’s announcement today on the modest shift in the concentration of health services to Hobart and Launceston is a start, but goes nowhere near far enough.

This is a missed opportunity to close one of the three northern hospitals in Tasmania. Having three in the north is unnecessary and dilutes the funding available for services state-wide, including at the Royal Hobart Hospital. The bottom line is that patients across the state would receive even better quality and more timely treatment with one less hospital.

The Government is ignoring inquiry after inquiry which have all pointed out that services are spread too thinly across the state. The number of Tasmanian patients who wait over 12 months for operations is close to 12 per cent – almost four times the national average. Clearly this isn’t good enough and the Government should be leading a frank conversation with the community about the future of these northern hospitals.

This is another terrible case of parochialism, and of protecting the electoral prospects of northern politicians, being put well above good health policy yet again. I give some credit to the Government for taking some small steps today, but the reality is that much more is needed to fix our ailing health system.
Andrew Wilkie, Independent Member for Denison