Regions hit as surgeon quits

REGIONAL Tasmania has been left without another medical specialist after the Launceston General Hospital’s only vascular surgeon quit over concerns about his contract negotiations.

The North and North-West are without a vascular specialist following the departure of director of surgery Brian Kirkby.

Dr Kirkby’s resignation follows the North losing spinal and neurology specialists and the Australian Medical Association warning that recruiting surgeons to regional areas of the state is proving near impossible.

Dr Kirkby’s colleague, surgeon Gary Fettke, said the North and North-West communities would suffer.

“We struggle to get emergency doctors to stay, we’ve had a neurologist leave and we have difficulty attracting other specialists,” Dr Fettke said.

“We need to have service delivery for the community and we can’t afford for us to no longer have a vascular service or a spinal service in the North.”

Dr Fettke said Dr Kirkby had resigned over contract negotiations with the Tasmanian Health Service that had dragged on for more than a year.

“We’ve lost a service and it was preventable because of a top-down issue,” Dr Fettke said.

AMA state president Stuart Day told the Mercury’s Tassie 2022 campaign retaining and training local doctors should be a high priority for whichever party wins next month’s state election.

Dr Day said yesterday Dr Kirkby’s general surgical role could be covered but his specialisation would prove difficult to replace.

“That will be almost impossible to recruit to,” he said.

“It’s always difficult to fill a position in a regional centre so that is a concern.”

Labor has made health its number one issue for the election campaign and was quick to condemn Health Minister Michael Ferguson over the latest departure.

“To lose another critical leader in the health system is unforgivable,” Opposition Leader Rebecca White said.

“Michael Ferguson’s decision to sack the head of the Tasmanian Health Service, but not until after the election, has left the hospital system in limbo.”

Mr Ferguson announced in December the THS would be restructured and its head David Alcorn moved on.

The minister yesterday defended the THS’s handling of negotiations with Dr Kirkby.

“The role of director of surgery at the LGH has not materially changed, and the LGH Management and THS desired that Dr Kirkby would remain in the role,” Mr Ferguson said.

“Dr Kirkby has been told this repeatedly, both in faceto-face meetings and in writing, but has chosen to move interstate.”