Media release – Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Health, 25 August 2022
Reducing bed block across our hospitals
The Tasmanian Liberal Government has been engaging with the Federal Government and local service providers to develop innovative solutions as we work to ease bed block pressures across our Hospitals.
We know there are people in our hospitals who are medically well and ready to be discharged, but cannot leave as they are either unable to access a residential aged care bed or are experiencing delays in seeking approval for supports through the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
To further build on the work underway to address this issue, the Tasmanian Government will convene a Forum to bring aged care providers and other stakeholders together to identify the barriers to accessing services following hospital discharge and, more importantly, to discuss what we can do to overcome these delays.
The Department of Health has also met with the National Disability Insurance Agency this week to discuss solutions to discharge delays for patients awaiting approval for NDIS package and I understand positive progress is being made.
While we work together to look at longer-term solutions around accommodation to speed up the safe transfer of the medically-ready to aged care and NDIS-supported living arrangements, Tasmania has recently asked the Commonwealth to consider paying for transitional care pathways as an interim measure.
This will not only help with the timely discharge of these patients, and ensure they receive care in the appropriate setting, but also significantly reduce the cost to the Tasmanian health system noting the annual cost of an acute bed is about $815,000 per year versus $450,000 for a sub-acute bed.
Of course, there is no one simple solution to the challenges in our health system. We recognise a system-wide approach is needed, which is why we have introduced the Statewide Access and Flow program to deliver a coordinated improvement in patient access and flow across our hospitals, using digital technologies to improve data access to assist with efficient patient management.
We have also opened Integrated Operation Centres within our major hospitals which enable centralised communication to support staff to make timely decisions about resource allocation to improve patient flow.
The Aged Care Forum will take place on Friday 16 September, and I look forward to hearing directly from the sector and working collaboratively to resolve these issues, and improve patient access and flow in our hospitals to support Tasmanians to access the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Anita Dow MP, Shadow Minister for Health, 26 August 2022
Premier not getting the basics right in health
Tasmania’s health system is going from bad to worse under a Premier and part-time Health Minister who can’t get the basics right.
Ambulance response times have hit an unprecedented 15 minutes – an increase of nearly four minutes since the Liberals were elected in 2014.
Four minutes is a lifetime in an emergency.
Tasmania already had the worst ambulance response times in the country, but today’s health data confirms the importance of Tasmanians having a Health Minister who is giving their full-time attention to the significant challenges across the health system.
On top of this, our Emergency Departments have hit new lows, with just 50 per cent of patients statewide being seen within four hours.
Less than a third of patients at the Royal Hobart Hospital with “imminently life-threatening” conditions were seen on time.
And it seems the situation at the Launceston General Hospital is particularly dire.
Patients at the LGH are now waiting a staggering average of 600 days to see a specialist, while the waiting list for patients needing urgent surgery has bucked the statewide trend, nearly doubling over the past 12 months.
With our health workforce and system at breaking point, Premier and part-time Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff needs to demonstrate he has a plan to start getting the basics right across our health system.
Media release – Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP, Greens Health spokesperson, 26 August 2022
Ambulance Response Times Out of Control
The response times for ambulances in Tasmania continue to spiral further out of control, with the latest HealthStats revealing a distressing new milestone. For the first time ever, Tasmania’s ‘median emergency response time’ for an ambulance has reached fifteen minutes.
For a state with the worst ambulance response times in the country, seeing this measure move further in the wrong direction is devastating.
These figures are another shocking demonstration of the real-life impact of ambulance ramping. Ambulances are stuck parked at hospitals every day, instead of driving to respond to emergency calls for help.
The Liberal Government announced a handful of procedural changes to try and deal with ramping. These are welcome, but unfortunately they won’t be enough to make a meaningful difference.
The Government’s own figures show ramping continues to worsen year on year. We need to see Premier Jeremy Rockliff put his foot down and make this a priority issue, with the increased resourcing required to make a difference.
Tasmania needs a big funding boost for health staff, and more new ambulances immediately. The Government also needs to prioritise the long-delayed projects that will increase hospital capacity.
Without ambitious immediate action from government, it’s inevitable more Tasmanian lives will be put at risk from ambulance ramping.
