Hospital hit by holiday hitch
HEALTH Minister Michael Ferguson has lashed out at Hobart’s private hospitals after two closed their doors to some patients because of staff leave which he said was linked with school holidays.
The Royal Hobart Hospital hit level four escalation on Tuesday after the Hobart Private Hospital closed its medical ward and Calvary Hospital implemented a temporary ambulance bypass.
The part-closure of the private hospitals came during a week health unions and the RHH staff association agreed was one of the Tasmanian Health Services’ worst for the year.
Numerous RHH staff complained of ramping and bed block, while RHH medical staff association chairman Frank Nicklason said yesterday a “very senior, very experienced” colleague had called him about the situation with an “agitation in his voice I hadn’t heard before”.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said ongoing pressure at the RHH was frustrating patients so badly its members were suffering verbal abuse, spitting and punching.
“Our members completely understand patients’ frustration that the service that they’ve accessed when at their most vulnerable and feeling so ill has let them down,” state secretary Emily Shepherd said.
Mr Ferguson did not hold back on his disappointment in Calvary and the Hobart Private Hospital and said he was in conversation with both hospitals about their temporary closures.
“It’s not right that the Royal Hobart Hospital — which is a very busy hospital and awaiting its new buildings a year from now — should also have to carry the load for two other private hospitals,” Mr Ferguson said.
“I am personally engaging with the privates to ensure that they deal with their workforce to address those issues because we don’t want to see them closing over school holidays or summer periods when they’re times when people need healthcare.”
Meanwhile, independent health policy analyst Martyn Goddard yesterday released a report detailing what he labelled chronic underfunding of Tasmania’s health system.
His analysis found $1.6 billion in possible health funding awarded in GST grants had been diverted from the health system since the Liberals came to power in 2014.
The money was being used to write off the state’s debts, he said.
Mr Goddard further argued chronic bed block in the state’s public hospitals was contribu-
Our members completely understand patients’ frustration that the service … when at their most vulnerable … has let them down.
ANFM State Secretary EMILY SHEPHERD
ting to 80 avoidable deaths in the system each year.
His analysis of health data found the Launceston General Hospital had the worst bed block of almost 290 facilities throughout Australia.
“So much damage has been done for so long that it will take years and years — even if the money was going to start to flow tomorrow in full — to get back to where we ought to be to deliver national standard care to our population,” Mr Goddard said.
“They’re going to have to change their policy on the debt-free state because that’s chasing the surplus, refusing to borrow for anything, even productive infrastructure, which is economically mad.”
The Commonwealth Grants Commission said GST revenue could be used for “any purpose or function”.
“The Tasmanian Government is not required to spend its GST grants in any particular way, nor is it accountable to the Commonwealth or the CGC for how it spends these grants,” the grants secretary Michael Willcock said.
Mr Ferguson disputed Mr Goddard’s analysis: “We spend 30 per cent of our total revenue on the health system and so that’s a false claim.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell noted Mr Goddard’s report was the third this year to point to underfunding of the health system.
Health and Community Services Union state secretary Tim Jacobson called for greater funding to not just acute services but primary and preventative care.
Calvary and Hobart Private Hospital owner Healthscope was contacted for comment. Mental Health plan delays: P 13
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