last week
Liberals leave Tasmania voiceless
Tasmania’s hospitals and health system
The communique from last week’s Council of Australian Government Health Council meeting reveals a lot about the Liberals’ plans to fix Tasmania’s broken hospitals and health system.
No
agenda items were listed by Sarah Courtney and there was nothing mentioned
about possible solutions to the critical issues affecting Tasmania.
Shadow
Health Minister Sarah Lovell said going to Perth with nothing to say was an
admission of failure from the Liberals.
“Last
week we heard that 1,800 Tasmanians waited more than 24 hours for a bed at the
Royal Hobart Hospital in the last financial year,” Ms Lovell said.
“We
know there’s almost 10,000 people stuck on the waiting list for vital
surgeries.
“Even
with our health system in such chaos and people dying needlessly in our
hospitals, Sarah Courtney met with Health Ministers from across the country and
had nothing to say.
“This
was her first opportunity as Health Minister to raise critical issues being
faced by Tasmanians on a national level and she failed to do so.
“There
are no outcomes from the meeting aimed at helping Tasmanian doctors, nurses and
health professionals who are working way beyond capacity.
“There
are no solutions for the thousands of Tasmanians waiting for surgery and their
families, and nothing to say to ensure that waiting times in our emergency
departments go down.
“It
is clear this Government and this Health Minister have no vision for Tasmania’s
health system, and no plan to deliver.
“Sarah
Courtney has been a real disappointment as Health Minister since she took the
job from Michael Ferguson but this is possibly her greatest failure to date.”
Sarah Lovell
Shadow Health Minister
