Media release – Kathrine Morgan-Wicks – Secretary, Department of Health, 5 September 2023
Demand pressures at Royal Hobart Hospital and Launceston General Hospital
The communities of southern and northern Tasmania are being urged to consider the right treatment option for their needs and reconsider attending the Royal Hobart Hospital and Launceston General Hospital Emergency Department if it is not an emergency.
Both hospitals and Ambulance Tasmania are experiencing significant demand for services, while experiencing challenges with staffing due to high rates of unplanned absence, noting that COVID-19, influenza and other seasonal illnesses continue to circulate in the community.
There are also a high number of patients with complex needs awaiting discharge, including a higher than normal number awaiting placement for aged care facilities and patients awaiting National Disability Insurance Scheme assessments, approvals and supports.
The hospitals are closely managing elective surgery activity to maintain access for emergency demand. This includes working with private hospitals to access contracted bed capacity and elective surgery support.
We would like to thank our hardworking and dedicated staff for their commitment to providing high quality health care services to Tasmanians. The community can have confidence that the needs of emergency presentations will be met.
During surge periods like these which tend to occur across our extended winter season, Tasmanians can help us by utilising alternative healthcare options if it is not an emergency.
This includes the new Medicare Urgent Care Clinic at Your Hobart Doctor at 71 Bathurst St, Hobart, which is open from 4pm-10pm seven days a week, and the Medicare UCC at Launceston Medical Centre at 247 Wellington St, Launceston, which is open from 2pm-8pm seven days a week. These clinics provide bulk-billed healthcare for urgent health issues that do not require a presentation to the Emergency Department.
For less urgent health concerns, Tasmanians can also access after-hours GP services, visit their local pharmacy for advice, or contact Health Direct on 1800 022 222 to speak to a Registered Nurse 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can provide advice on whether people should manage your condition at home, book an appointment with a GP or go to the ED.
We ask Tasmanians for their patience and understanding should they experience longer waiting times for non-urgent presentations to the Emergency Department. We would like to thank those who have used the alternatives to the Emergency Department, and we encourage others to do so.
People requiring emergency medical care should call triple zero (000) or make their way to the nearest ED.
For more information about non-emergency care options available in Tasmania, visit: www.health.tas.gov.au/rightcare
Simon Warriner
September 6, 2023 at 21:57
I was somewhat bemused while watching the ABC news tonight. The item that caused this sensation was about the subject of concussion injuries in sport and the “urgent” actions needed to avoid the preventable harms being caused.
I was bemused because as a society we have known for more than three decades that an excess of sugar in the diet causes diabetes. We have known that untreated and poorly managed diabetes creates massive health problems and causes progressive disease and that it also overloads our hospital system. The impacts of excess sugar in our diets are several orders of magnitude greater than a few knocks to the head while playing sport, and come without the redeeming values of teamwork, fitness, exercise and fellowship.
I was bemused because there has been an almost non-existent response from our political, health, and dietary spokespersons to the avoidable harms caused by excess sugar in the diet. The one Tasmania health professional who has pointed out the way to defeat acquired diabetes has been hounded out of his surgical profession by a medical regulatory establishment whose dietary standard is set with the help of industries who profit from flogging sugar-laden junk foods.
It speaks volumes about the witlessness of the media landscape, the medical profession and society in general that such a bemusing paradox should so obviously exist. It is not the only such paradox.
Beyond that, it might benefit Morgan-Wicks to take a good, close look at the UK NHS dataset to understand why our hospitals might be struggling a bit, and ponder the role she played in the problem and how the relatives of her victims feel about her, and the campaign waged to stick what some of us think are toxic substances into people who trusted the health system to protect them. One wonders if similar data is available here, and what it might reveal.