The Health Minister, Michael Ferguson, is failing sick Tasmanians. Both the DHHS and THS annual reports show a health system in disarray.
All four of the State’s emergency departments exceeded the maximum patient length of stay targets in each quarter last year.
How Minister Ferguson can claim the THS and DHHS annual reports demonstrate his government’s progress is anyone’s guess. They describe in detail how the Liberals are failing Tasmanians in ill health.
The THS and DHHS annual reports confirm the Liberals are starving the hospitals of funding. Expecting them to spend $18.5M less this year, and continue to meet targets for treating sick Tasmanians is irresponsible, and unrealistic.
Chronic bed block is plaguing Tasmania’s hospitals, because of vicious funding cuts to basic hospital operations. This year, emergency departments have been dealt a $7 million cut on what was spent last year.
Doctors and nurses working in emergency departments are being forced to try to solve the problems of Minister Ferguson’s making. He has starved wards of beds and staff, meaning patients can’t be transferred, which has led to a massive backlog of patients in the EDs.
Instead of addressing the lack of beds, the Health Minister continues to foist reviews onto emergency departments, implying a plan will fix things.
On top of the emergency department crisis, nearly every elective surgery target was missed. None of the targets for maximum wait times, being admitted within recommended times, and treatment in turn were met.
When wages, drugs and basic equipment price increases are accounted for, the annual reports document an actual $50M cut to health service delivery this year, in real terms.
The Health Minister needs to front up and put the money back into health so the same woeful story isn’t told next year.
Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Health spokesperson
