Today I was joined by Joe Kowaluk, whose family has had a number of dealings with our health system while his mum was being treated for cancer.
While Joe and his family are thankful for the dedicated care they received from health workers, they believe the system is broken.
This includes instances where:
- Joe’s dad had to administer morphine to his mum over a 12-hour period because an ambulance transport was not available to take her to hospital, and
- Despite being told a hospital bed was available, Joe’s mum waited in a cold emergency department waiting room for hours only to be told no bed was available for her.
Tasmanians are waiting longer for care since the Rockliff Government came to office 10 years ago but pleas from community members like Joe are going unanswered.
This is symptomatic of a government in chaos that is more focused on itself than fixing the health, housing and cost of living crisis.
Ambulance response times are now up to 15 minutes, our emergency departments are under incredible pressure and our highly skilled workforce is burnout or leaving the state.
It is time for urgent action. The Rockliff minority Government must be accountable for the state of the health system and outline its plan to address the health crisis, including a comprehensive attraction and retention workforce plan.
Tasmanian Labor has outlined its plan to take pressure off of our major hospitals and begin repairing the broken health system by investing in our 18 district hospitals and regional health workforce, which will include Nurse Practitioners and more regional paramedics.
This will reduce ambulance ramping and bed block so that people can receive care when and where they need it the most.
The facts speak for themselves. After 10 years of a Liberal Government, our health system is the worst it’s ever been and this Government has no plans to listen or to fix it.
Rebecca White MP
Labor Leader
