Courtney ignoring LGH staff over new escalation protocols

Tasmanian Labor
  • Government ignoring concerns of hard working LGH staff
  • Courtney makes no commitment on new escalation protocols
  • Waiting times at the LGH are the worst in the country
  • Sarah Courtney is continuing to ignore desperate pleas from Launceston General Hospital staff for more support to deal with unprecedented pressure on the emergency department.

    It has been confirmed this week that waiting times at the LGH are the worst in the country.

    Shadow Health Minister, Sarah Lovell, said the Minister was failing to listen to the experts.

    “Three weeks ago, staff requests to declare a code yellow or internal emergency to relieve pressure on the emergency department were denied,” Ms Lovell said.

    “These requests were made at a time when 12 admitted patients had been waiting in the ED for longer than 24 hours for a bed, with four of those patients waiting longer than two days, and one patient forced to wait 16 hours in an ambulance.

    “Staff are now calling on Sarah Courtney to introduce a fourth escalation level, in line with protocols at the Royal Hobart Hospital, to empower them to systematically deal with the all too frequent incidences of access block – which means patients are stuck in ED because there are no beds available.

    “Sarah Courtney is ignoring their pleas for action and Labor is calling on her to commit to immediately introducing new escalation protocols at the LGH to address chronic bed block.”

    Sarah Lovell MP

    Shadow Minister for Health

    /Public Release. View in full here.