Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Health, 25 May 2022
Major investment in digital health to improve patient care
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is transforming the way we deliver patient care with a $150 million investment over the next four years to upgrade our digital health infrastructure.
The 2022-23 State Budget commitment forms part of a Digital Health Strategy and it is anticipated more than $475 million will be allocated to this project over the next 10 years as the strategy is further scoped and developed.
This investment will see the launch of a new state-wide fully integrated care platform that will enable our hospitals, GPs, community health, allied health, and other specialist providers to seamlessly communicate and share information with each other.
In the first four years of funding, we will procure and trial a new centralised and secure Electronic Medical Record system and launch a statewide patient record viewer that connects all public and private health and care providers. Critically, this will improve access to up-to-date clinical information across a range of healthcare settings.
We will also upgrade existing virtual care technologies – including telehealth – to enable more patients to receive care in their home or in their community, streamline the referral and appointment process for patients, and enhance clinical decision-making through access to advanced data and analytics.
This digital transformation will deliver a range of benefits for patients, including access to convenient healthcare in local communities, improved communications about appointments, reduced waiting time for services, and less duplication of care and forms.
It will also prevent unnecessary hospital visits, helping to keep people out of hospital when they don’t need to be there.
Importantly, upgrading our digital technologies will benefit our health professionals by providing them with the right data, in the right place, at the right time to enable them to make the best decisions on patient care.
In doing so, the changes will free up clinicians to spend more time on clinical activities and caring for patients, and less time on administrative tasks and chasing up paperwork.
In today’s rapidly changing health environment, we recognise that modern digital health infrastructure is just as important as bricks and mortar, particularly as Tasmania’s ageing population and increased rates of chronic disease are projected to drive increased demand for hospital care in the years ahead.
That’s why this investment represents a major step toward becoming the first Australian state with a fully integrated healthcare system that is ready to meet the challenges of the future.
By linking public and private health services in one digitally connected network, we will transform patient experience, improve patient care, and ensure greater equity in health outcomes across Tasmania’s dispersed population.
View the Digital Health Transformation – Improving Patient Outcomes Overview here.
Media release – AMA Tasmania, 25 May 2022
CONSIGNING THE FAX MACHINE TO THE RECYCLE BIN – REVOLUTIONISING TASMANIA’S HEALTH SYSTEM STARTS TODAY
The state government’s decision to invest in critical IT infrastructure over the next decade will revolutionise the way we deliver healthcare in Tasmania and will finally create the one integrated health care system across acute and primary care.
AMA Tasmania President Dr John Saul said that the promised $150m in this budget over the next four years is the substantial commitment that AMA has been looking for to take us to the next level in healthcare delivery.
“I cannot emphasise enough how excited we are to have this strong commitment from the state government in IT.
“AMA Tasmania has previously called for a $400m investment in the digital hospital of the future to transform how health is delivered across the entire health system, and now the government has delivered with this $476m plan.
“If you have benefitted from the COVID@Home program, you will know just some of the benefits of having technology connect you to the health services you need at a given time.
“The benefits are enormous.”
Dr Saul added, “the first of three stages will ensure investment into information technology solutions in software and hardware that will see specialist services delivered in a patient’s home; will see medication errors reduced due to e-prescription software that can pick up anomalies; that will see GPs able to see in real-time what is happening to their patients while in hospital through an electronic medical record and receive discharge summaries immediately; and will enable doctors to update patient records at the patient’s bedside.
“In building efficiency, we increase patient safety, reduce duplication, increase transparency and information sharing, and eliminate paper-based processes.
“Fax machines will be consigned to the recycle bin.”
“Improved IT allows for better communication and support for different and more flexible modern models of care.
“This investment will enable virtual care to Tasmanians no matter where they live and link health professionals across the acute and primary sectors from the patient’s bedside to their GPs surgery.
“But unfortunately, we cannot stop there; as we have seen in the last few days at the Launceston General Hospital, our hospitals are in crisis with increasing bed block, service disruption, ambulance ramping and a growing elective surgery waiting list.
“To open more beds and fix these issues, we need more doctors and nurses.
“To do this, we must ensure the Tasmanian health system is competitive on wages in order to attract and retain the doctors we need.
“This means we must pay them an equivalent salary to what they would be paid in Melbourne or Sydney.
“With Hobart now being the most expensive capital in the country to live and housing prices rising across the state, no one will come here to live if it means taking a substantial pay cut.
“Without pay parity, the Tasmanian health system will be forced to rely even more heavily on an expensive and volatile locum workforce.
“We know we need more specialist doctors, especially in Launceston, Burnie, and the Mersey, to reduce our reliance on locums, which means lifting doctors’ wages.
“AMA Tasmania will be negotiating our new EBA on the basis of equal care, equal pay.
“If the government hasn’t budgeted for a pay increase for doctors, they will need to find the money somewhere or else what is a positive investment in IT today will be swamped by the crises of tomorrow.
“The government cannot let a cash flow crisis put us behind the eight ball when it comes to our health system.”
Media release – David O’Byrne MP, Member for Franklin, 25 May 2022
Record spending for record health problems
The State Liberal Government’s assurance that their 10th budget will be the budget that finally fixes our health system doesn’t pass the pub test, says Franklin MP David O’Byrne.
In Question Time today, Mr O’Byrne pressed the Premier on worsening outcomes across Tasmania’s health system, as the Launceston General Hospital is plunged into crisis and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation launches industrial action.
“The government love to talk about their record spending on health, but the Tasmanian health system has deteriorated on almost every metric since they came to power in 2014,” said Mr O’Byrne.
“The latest Report on Government Services showed Tasmania had the worst statewide ambulance response times in the country, and patients in our emergency departments are only being seen within clinically recommended timeframes 58% of the time.
“We don’t need the government to congratulate itself because they’ve allocated more funding to health in recent years than they did in the years before it.
“We need a government committed to reversing the ongoing deterioration of health outcomes, because almost every health metric has worsened since this government was elected, and Tasmanians are rightfully concerned about the state of our health system.
“The idea that this government’s 10th budget will magically reverse the impact that the last 9 budgets have had on the health system is absurd, but – for the sake of Tasmanian patients – I sincerely hope I’m proved wrong.”
Media release – Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA), 25 May 2022
Sharp increase in ‘missing episodes’ adds to elective surgery pain
A sharp increase in ‘missing’ episodes of care in Australia’s private hospitals in the first quarter of 2022 spells longer waits for essential elective surgery.
The latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) suggests that since the start of the pandemic more than 390,000 anticipated admissions expected in private hospitals, did not occur. Over 100,000 of these “missing episodes’ were added in the first three months of 2022 alone, further increasing elective surgery wait times.
This means all the gains made in 2021 in terms of elective surgery catch up have been wiped out and surgical waiting lists are longer than they have ever been.
Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) CEO Michael Roff said every state had elective surgery restrictions in place over this quarter contributing further to already extensive backlogs.
“The Omicron wave resulted in surgery restrictions being imposed right around the country in the first quarter of 2022 and these figures show the devastating impact of that action,” he said.
In addition, although the number of private patients treated in public hospital has fallen, the proportion remains the same with public hospitals undertaking 15 percent of privately insured episodes.
“This means public hospitals have not prioritised clearing the backlog of public patients on ever growing waiting lists who need their care most, but are continuing to chase private health insurance revenue at the expense of public patients.
“This will weigh heavily on patients who are left waiting for non-urgent, but necessary surgery.”
The number of Australians taking up hospital cover continues to increase, with an additional 225,858 joining in the last 12 months.
“While it is encouraging to see Australians recognising the value of private hospitals in providing them high-quality care when they need it, the health workforce crisis will make it challenging to deliver all the elective surgery needed in the coming year,” Mr Roff said.
“In addition to increased staff absenteeism due to COVID, private hospitals have told us they currently have a shortfall of 5,500 nurses and they urgently need at least 1000 skilled migrant nurses. The incoming Federal Government’s first task should be addressing the health workforce crisis in Australia by making this country an attractive option to skilled migrants.”
He said Australia was up against fierce international competition when it comes to recruiting health professionals, particularly nurses and a business-as-usual approach will not be enough to bring them here.
“The difficulty we have recruiting is not just about money, people want to immigrate to a place where they will be welcomed and there is an opportunity to settle with their family. The UK, Canada and France are all offering enhanced residency pathways for health care workers who choose to move there, and Australia needs to follow suit.
“In addition, removing bureaucratic red tape imposing unnecessary restrictions on employers and visa holders needs to be addressed to allow for a more flexible health workforce.
“Addressing health workforce shortages will be the first and most important issue we raise when we meet with the new Health Minister,” Mr Roff said.
