Open the wallet and spend

WELL Mr Premier, you and the Treasurer are insisting on having the budget in surplus. That sir, is a flight of fancy and you both must take out the Government’s wallet, open it up and spend what is necessary to get our health system to an acceptable standard. You may be a good pair to balance the books on paper but you are doing a pathetic job on health. Instead of increasing spending to a level that will work, you are reducing it at the expense of the public’s health. Blood on the government’s hands will be the mantra for the opposition at the next election and they will storm back to power if you don’t wake up.

You and your government have had years to fix what Labor failed to do and so far you have blown it. When you have highly qualified doctors telling you to spend up then who are you to say otherwise. You don’t need overpaid advisers to do your job. Stand up for Tasmania and put your money where your mouth is. Scott White Sorell

So, no problem?

SO, a $96 million miss in budget with a $103 million over-budget in health to boot ( Mercury, November 1). Yet the Treasurer can welcome “the overall result”, saying it “confirms the Government once again has balanced the budget and delivered a modest surplus”. So, there is no problem? May I suggest the Treasurer consider an explanatory article (something like his Wednesday Talking Point on the EOI would be fine) on what the Government (ie, the Hodgman majority Liberal Government) has in mind to defend the budget anomalies and outline a remedial path. I would expect some modern wordage, including green-lighting, reimagining and robust (as in “start the robust legislated state and federal government planning and approval processes”). They worked OK in that Talking Point, so come on Pete, reimagine it instead of imagining it’s not there. Peter Wood Lutana

Is this what we deserve?

SO 1800 patients waited more than 24 hours in the RHH’s Emergency Department in 2018 ( Mercury, October 31)! On May 30 in the House of Assembly, then health minister Mr Ferguson said that “the Government has worked closely to give Tasmanians the health system that it deserves” (House of Assembly Hansard, May 30). Is this really what the Hodgman Government thinks Tasmanians deserve? We don’t want a budget surplus through cuts to elective surgery, we want A. Functioning. Health. System. It’s really not that difficult a concept. Get. It. Done. Jamie Chapman Risdon Vale

Seeking glimmer of light

I AM desperately striving to find a positive after the great Editorial (”Emergency needs a fix”, October 31) about the rapidly deteriorating crisis at the RHH. As many pundits including leading doctors predicted, a change in ministry would not be a solution. The time is nigh for Premier Hodgman to take command and oversee a solution to the emergency resulting in loss of human lives. Ambulance ramping with such frequency is unacceptable in a state boasting such economic prosperity and there must be a separate arrival point for mental health admissions. If I could find a positive, it would be that patients are hopefully well cared for, either ramped in an ambulance or in a safe hospital environment, as uncomfortable as it may be. Chris Davey Lindisfarne

You said you’d fix it

PREMIER Will Hodgman, when you were elected to government, you stated that you would fix some of the things that Labor had stuffed up. The health system was one of these, you then went on to pull millions of dollars out of health and, by your own admission ( Mercury, November 1), you say that our health system is not performing adequately. Premier, you and your government need to fix this health problem ASAP, or resign from office. Stan Armstrong Cygnet

Opposition have a go

THE solution is in any government to have the leader of the opposition always minister for health. The health budget to be never less than the previous year adjusted by CPI. They will always contribute positively and sideline grandstanders who make no contribution. The government can take credit for improvements and the opposition can take the blame for failures. David Taylor Kingston Beach