The
Productivity Commission’s Report
on Government Services Health data is further damning evidence that
Tasmania’s health system is in crisis
Tasmania’s
health performance continues to nose-dive across a number of critical
indicators including the time taken to see emergency patients, ambulance
response times and elective surgery wait times.
Tasmania
was the worst performing state or territory in the ’emergency’ triage category,
where patients need to be seen within 10 minutes of presentation.
Only
49 per cent of Tasmanians were seen on time in this category, compared to 65
per cent nationally. Last year, 57 per cent of Tasmanian emergency triage
patients were seen on time.
Tasmania
was the second worst performing state or territory across all triage categories
(‘resuscitation’ to ‘non-urgent’), with only 53 per cent of patients seen on
time, compared to 67 per cent nationally. Last year, 58 per cent of Tasmanian
patients were seen on time.
Tasmania
also has the longest overall elective surgery waiting times for any state or
territory, and the third longest wait time for ambulances behind South
Australia and New South Wales.
Worryingly,
more people in Tasmania than any other state or territory are skipping going to
the doctor because it costs too much.
Tasmania’s
health system is in crisis, yet part-time Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff
continues to focus on the wrong priorities for the state.
While
Jeremy Rockliff fiddles about with his billion-dollar stadium, Tasmania’s
health system is burning.
Mr
Rockliff gets judged on no other indicator than results and on all health
measures he’s failing.
The Premier’s own media release on today’s data titled ‘Promising signs as we
build a better health system’, is
pure spin and shows
he is completely out of touch.
He
needs to get his head out of the sand and stop pretending that Tasmania isn’t
in the grips of a health crisis. Because on everycritical indicator we
are.
AMA
president Dr John Saul said on Tuesday that we’ve been in a health crisis for
four years. If anyone would know it’s him.
If Mr Rockliff can’t give the critical portfolio of health the attention it deserves, he must step down from his role as Health Minister and give it to someone else.
Anita Dow MP
Shadow Minister for Health
