Authorised by State Secretary Tim Jacobson 2018.
Today HACSU allied health professional (AHP) workers begin advising their union of the number of patients who didn’t receive the care they needed because AHPs are forced to prioritise who gets seen and who doesn’t.
HACSU will report these shocking numbers publicly once a week.
AHPs cover a huge number of disciplines including radiation therapists, child safety officers, speech pathologists, dental therapists and dieticians, who all provide vital services to our community.
However, their ranks are at crisis levels never before experienced in this state.
Patients at the LGH and across the state are not receiving the allied health treatment that’s clinically indicated due to inadequate funding and insufficient AHPs to do the work.
The Health Minister and Treasurer must stop disrespecting their own workforce and fix this crisis so Tasmanians can get the decent health services they deserve.
If reporting service failure numbers doesn’t convince the Treasurer to reconsider his unfair and unreasonable position, HACSU members will escalate their action.
From next Wednesday, 28 November AHPs at Launceston General Hospital will no longer provide treatment to patients in the short stay surgical unit, day procedure unit, transit lounge or in beds 13 onwards on ward 4D as these beds have been reopened by the Minister without the allied health funding needed to treat these patients.
Authorised by State Secretary Tim Jacobson 2018.
Quotes attributable to Robbie Moore, HACSU Assistant State Secretary
“HACSU allied health members are some of the most committed, professional and pivotal workers in our health system, yet for too long they’ve been treated with disdain by the Tasmanian Government – they’ve had enough.”
“Tasmania needs to be able to recruit and retain these vital health workers by giving AHPs a pay rise and providing working conditions that don’t include unmanageable workloads.”
“This critical situation is made much worse by the difficulty in hiring and keeping AHPs, many of whom aren’t trained in Tasmania, and in most cases these vital health professionals are the lowest paid in the country but have the highest workloads. To add insult to injury, where beds have been reopened or services extended due to demand, AHPs are expected to deal with the extra patients without extra workers or funding.”
