• New report reveals not enough inpatient beds to deal with patient surges
• Emergency Department overcrowding due to access block remains the number one issue at both RHH and LGH
• Staff doing best under still increasing pressure
• Ferguson held on to report for six months
Emergency Departments at both the Royal Hobart and Launceston General Hospitals remain in crisis almost a year after the Hodgman Government announced its policy to tackle poor access to care and a lack of beds.
Shadow Health Minister Rebecca White said the government’s Review of Access to Emergency Care report released overnight showed little had improved and the genuine and legitimate concerns of medical staff at the frontline had been ignored by the Health Minister.
“The fact remains that poor access to inpatient beds and on-going delays in emergency departments are making it very difficult for clinicians and nurses and other frontline staff to maintain a high quality of care,” Ms White said.
“The staff at all of our major hospitals are proud of the work they carry out in very demanding circumstances but they are saddled with a Health Minister who is either incapable of hearing their concerns or doesn’t want to know.
“Emergency Department overcrowding due to access block remains the number one issue at both the RHH and LGH.
“For many, many months now doctors and nurses have been telling Michael Ferguson that our EDs are at crisis point and they are dealing with patients in circumstances which are not only unacceptable, they are dangerous.
“Staff are doing their best but are under increasing pressure from EDs continually being crowded and a lack of inpatient beds.
“There are also legitimate concerns that the poor access to care is having an impact on the ability of our hospitals to recruit staff.
“Importantly, Mr Ferguson also needs to tell Tasmanians why this report was not made public despite it being prepared last August.
”This Government has been forced again through the Right to Information process to disclose information they would rather keep secret.”
Rebecca White MP Shadow Health and Preventative Care Minister