Be upfront on hospital
EVERY Tasmanian surely wishes the soon-to-be-expanded Royal Hobart Hospital all the very best. But the reality is there are going to be some serious teething issues over the next few months as the new K-Block is commissioned, as there always are with the opening of every redeveloped or new hospital. That’s just the reality. And that’s fine. There’s no shame in that. These are seriously complicated projects. All we would ask, then, is that the Government gets in the habit of putting the spin on hold when talking about the Royal Hobart Hospital — and instead practise being open and transparent to Tasmanians on these very important matters that are close to all our hearts.
The massive redevelopment has been — and will be as it is commissioned in coming months — a complicated process. But Tasmanians understand that. They know it won’t be delivered without some teething issues. What they won’t stand for is deliberate obsfucation when it comes to telling the truth.
And here is part of that truth: that the $689 million first stage redevelopment of the hospital is to deliver, at least for now, just 44 additional inpatient beds. The number of beds at the Royal will increase from 383 at present to 427 when the new K-Block is properly commissioned sometime early next year.
Health Minister Sarah Courtney and Premier Will Hodgman say the Government remains committed to its promised 250 additional beds over six years in the South. The Premier yesterday pointed to the fact that
THE MASSIVE REDEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN — AND WILL BE — A COMPLICATED PROCESS. BUT TASMANIANS UNDERSTAND THAT.
there is money in the budget for that. He’s technically right, but not this year. Instead, $71 million of the $132 million for that is allocated in the forward estimates for 2022-23. And considering that Budget is after the next election, that’s a bit like saying: “Yeah we’re planning to re-do the kitchen in three years from now”. It might well happen. But it’s a spend that is far from locked in.
And so just be upfront. Just concede that, yes, the immediate benefit to the state will be 44 additional beds (because that’s a great start) — and then in the 2020-21 financial year we can expected an additional $16 million to be spent on (we can only estimate) an additional 30 or so beds. Then there will be maybe 70 more in 2021-22, with the remaining 150 in that financial year that follows the next state election.
That’s all fine. That’s a good result. Tell it straight. And celebrate it. But don’t gloss over the challenges.
It was refreshing, then, to hear Premier Hodgman admit that the opening of K-Block is not going to solve the state’s hospital crisis, and that it would instead simply be just the first step in increasing capacity at the Royal — “a long-term plan which we are expediting”. There is currently $85 million or so allocated in the budget for the Stage 2 redevelopment, again mostly in the out-years — with $53 million of the cash in the 2021-22 financial year (two years from now).
Meanwhile, what the heck is happening with the position held at the hospital by Australian Medical Association president John Burgess. Soon after he wrote about the health crisis in our pages this week — noting that the “fish rots from the head” — he was informed his position would be abolished. We are all for streamlining functions. But wow, even the most charitable among us would say that’s some bad timing!