Emergency doctors say health system at low point

EMERGENCY medicine specialists say Tasmania’s public health system is at its lowest point in recent memory, but has called for more collaboration and less criticism to fix the problem.

Australasian College of Emergency Medicine president Simon Judkins said great- er efficiencies in moving patients through the state’s major hospitals would help ease the pressures on strained emergency departments.

The college had met with Health Minister Michael Ferguson to help strategise, including sketching out a new work force plan, Dr Judkins said.

He said resourcing was part of, but not the only, solution.

“There’s probably not a huge amount of value in people continuing to criticise the system, and I think that it’s about time we say look, we all know what the problems are, let’s try to work together to get some solutions in place.”

The college said nine people had been in the Royal Hobart Hospital ED longer than 24 hours yesterday — a figure Dr Judkins said was “intolerable”.

Dr Judkins spoke on behalf of the college at the Legislative Council’s inquiry into acute health services yesterday.

Mr Ferguson said the Government was working to fix the issues: “We know there is more to be done, which is why we are investing a record amount into the health system over the next five-and-a-half years.”