Media release – Sarah Courtney, Minister for Health, 6 November 2020
Call to engage with Our Healthcare Future
Today’s release of Our Healthcare Future marks the next stage of the Tasmanian Government’s long-term health reform agenda as we continue to rebuild from COVID-19.
We know that sometimes our patients end up in hospital because it is the only care they can access – not necessarily because they need hospital-level care.
This is why Our Healthcare Future is all about ensuring we are delivering the right care, in the right place, at the right time as much as possible.
Our Healthcare Future looks at how we can achieve better patient outcomes by connecting and rebalancing care delivery across the acute, subacute, rehabilitation, mental health, primary health and community care settings.
Immediate actions include a new initiative in the North and North West to provide GPs and other primary healthcare professionals with rapid access to non-GP specialists, on top of the trial of a Hospital in the Home Service already underway in Southern Tasmania.
The $23 million health technology package I have announced today will deliver a new Human Resources Information System, allowing the Tasmanian Health Service staff to reduce paper-based systems and provide better information for our health services.
Longer term actions include a Telehealth Strategy for Tasmania, and a Health ICT Plan 2020 – 2030 including electronic medical records, electronic tools for managing patient care, and new systems for human resources and patient information for the Tasmanian Health Service.
We are committed to ensuring that our system is working in a way that meets the needs of our staff, our patients, and our community.
The One State, One Health System, Better Outcomes reform program was the first stage of the Tasmanian Government’s reform agenda.
With Our Healthcare Future, we will take the important next step of focusing on how we can improve the delivery of care in the community and build better integration across our system.
The Tasmanian Government will now work with the community, clinicians, consumers and organisations to plan the next steps.
You can have your say by making a written submission and speaking to a member of the Department of Health. In the coming months, further consultation will take place with stakeholders in a way that is safe and appropriate in the COVID-19 environment.
For more information on Our Healthcare Future and how you can contribute visit www.health.tas.gov.au/ourhealthcarefuture.
Media release – TasCOSS, 6 November 2020
Communities hold the key to addressing health outcomes
The State Government’s commitment, as outlined in the Our Healthcare Future reform agenda, to tackling long-standing health challenges has the potential to improve the lives of Tasmanians living on low incomes and in rural and regional areas of our state.
TasCOSS CEO Adrienne Picone said today’s announcement signals a welcome shift to investment in primary health care to prevent hospitalisations.
“Lengthy elective surgery waiting lists and overburdened emergency rooms are symptoms of a broader issue in Tasmania — lack of equitable access to primary health care,” Ms Picone said.
“We know effective solutions to our overburdened hospital system will not be found in our hospitals but, instead, within our communities.
“Tasmanians are presenting to Emergency Departments because for many reasons they haven’t been able to get the care they need in their local community. For example, many bulk billing GPs can’t take on any new patients and lack of access to transport means it is hard to travel further afield to get health care.
“The only way to solve these issues is by bringing accessible, affordable and timely primary health care to Tasmanians when and where they need it.”
Ms Picone said as we rebuild from COVID-19, good governments turn their attention to building the resilience of their population.
“It is the first step towards acknowledging the inequity of our current health system where Tasmanians living in the poorest neighbourhood die on average 18 years earlier than those living in our most advantaged neighbourhood.
“Tasmanians have told us that a healthy mind and body is a key ingredient to a good life. This announcement will bring us closer to ensuring that all Tasmanians, regardless of postcode or income level, can get the health care they need.”
TasCOSS encourages all Tasmanians to engage in the consultation process to give their views on what health care you need and how you can best access it. The voices of Tasmanians, particularly in rural and remote areas, will be essential to the design of a health care model that meets the needs and expectations of the community.
Preventing hospitalisations in Tasmania: TasCOSS 2020/21 Budget Priorities Statement proposes a proven model of wrap-around, connected health and social care that draws on existing resources to prevent hospitalisations, relieve the suffering of thousands of Tasmanians living on low incomes and provide an additional source of funding to the state health system via Medicare.
TasCOSS estimates there could be as much as $100 million available to the state through the range of available Commonwealth-funded care plans — from the NDIS to mental health, diabetes and aged care home support packages.
Media Release – AMA Tasmania, 6 November 2020
OUR HEALTHCARE FUTURE
AMA Tasmania welcomes today’s Government announcements including into the critical and
overdue investment in ICT. All parts of Tasmania’s health care system must be based on the reality
that all aspects of the health system are linked, and depend on each other to meet patient and
community demand effectively, this can only be achieved by investment in IT infrastructure and a
clear ICT strategy.
We look forward to working with the government on how best to support General Practice to
provide appropriate urgent care in the community. GPs have a profound influence on both health
outcomes and health expenditure. To ensure that general practice is equipped to meet the
challenges of providing urgent care to an ageing population and the growing burden of complex and
chronic disease, the government needs to deliver real resources to assist frontline GP services.
AMA Tasmania remains fully committed to the responsibility of providing the right care at the right
time in the right place for all patients. We see the pilot of the outreach of specialist services as
answering this call. We hope this initiative is successful and can be implemented throughout the
state as an effective means to help alleviate bed block across all hospitals, particularly the Royal
Hobart Hospital and the Launceston General Hospital which puts increased pressure on the
Emergency Departments.
We look forward to participating in the health workforce project consultation process to work
through any issues that arise from that. What is important is the government must provide
sustainable health funding to underpin existing services as well as those that may come from this
plan.
We anticipate more details on the government’s health care Infrastructure plans but in the
meantime make the call that the government needs to seriously investigate a single hospital for the
North West in light of COVID and the problems they have faced this year with old infrastructure, and
insufficient staff to keep all services going.
AMA Tasmania members stand ready to engage with the government on the Our Healthcare Future
initiative to ensure the best possible outcomes are explored and implemented.
