The Commonwealth and Tasmanian Governments today released the signed Mersey Community Hospital Heads of Agreement.
The agreement delivers record funding of $148.5 million, directly for the Mersey Community Hospital, above the level of the last agreement and means that North-Western Tasmanians will continue to receive high-quality care at the Mersey Community Hospital as part of one statewide Tasmanian health system.
Importantly, the Heads of Agreement explicitly details the new range of specialist outpatient services for the Mersey and shows that the High Dependency Unit will be retained and repurposed to support Tasmania’s only dedicated Elective Surgery Centre.
The HoA also guarantees continuation of the Mersey Emergency Department 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Mersey ED will continue to be staffed by fully qualified doctors with specialist training in emergency medicine.
Under these reforms, as detailed in the Heads of Agreement, the Mersey Community Hospital will have a stronger, more secure role which will benefit all Tasmanians.
The Mersey Heads of Agreement clearly shows record funding and upgraded services at Mersey. This should put to bed scaremongering and petty politics from the Labor Party, who continue to have a bob each way, saying they won’t reverse the changes at Mersey but continue to throw rocks from the sidelines but without a shed of clinical credibility.
The White Paper changes have been overwhelmingly welcomed by clinicians, health experts and the general public. We cannot afford to stick with the same broken system we have now.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health
