Tasmania’s
health crisis continues to worsen under part time health Minister and Premier
Jeremy Rockliff, as the Liberal government prioritises a $750 million stadium
over fixing Tasmania’s health system.
Only
a few weeks ago the Launceston General Hospital, which already had the worst
bed block in the country, again had to tell the community not to attend its
emergency department unless they had a life-threatening condition.
The latest dashboard data shows emergency departments are under immense pressure, with the
number of patients being seen within four hours remaining at an all-time low of
48 per cent – barely half the 90 per cent promised by the Liberals in 2018.
Ambulances
are regularly ramped for hours outside the hospital and ambulance response times remain the slowest in the country with
patients state-wide waiting nearly 20 per cent longer than in 2014,
while the Health Department’s Annual Report shows more than a third of all ambulance patients were ramped for
more than 30 minutes in Hobart and Launceston.
Meanwhile,
the major redevelopment of the LGH promised by the Liberals at the last
election is still a decade away with little to no funding allocated to it.
Tasmanians want a government that has its priorities right – and that means addressing the growing crisis in our health system, not spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a stadium in Hobart.
Anita Dow MP
Shadow Minister for Health
