Push to build a second hospital

RHH overwhelmed says Hobart councillor

A NEW public hospital should be built in Greater Hobart to ease pressures on the health system and improve outcomes for patients, a local councillor says.

Hobart councillor Ryan Posselt, a paramedic and nurse with 13 years’ experience across multiple jurisdictions, is calling on the state government to start planning for a second tertiary facility in order to lift the burden on the Royal Hobart Hospital.

He said he was envisaging an additional hospital smaller than the RHH that would include an emergency department, as well as surgical, general medical, maternity, radiology and pathology services.

“Other states and cities have the ability to put hospitals on bypass, where the system recognises that a hospital is overburdened and redirects ambulances to the next nearest hospital,” Mr Posselt said.

“This is an impossibility in Hobart, and even when the hospital is completely full, the ambulances just keep coming and queuing.”

Mr Posselt said the lack of a second public hospital led not only to ambulance ramping, but bed block and elective surgery cancellations too.

And with both an ageing and growing population – an additional 60,000 people are expected to call Greater Hobart home over the next 30 years – the health system was in desperate need of a circuitbreaker, the councillor said.

“We need to plan for this demand and start planning a second tertiary hospital for Greater Hobart today,” Mr Posselt said.

“It will probably take 10 years to build and staff, meaning the state would commission a new hospital in 2033.”

He believes Glenorchy would be the ideal location for the facility.

But Premier and Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff said his government’s focus remained on “ensuring the RHH can deliver the high-quality care Tasmanians expect and deserve, both now and into the future”.

“We are … investing record amounts to alleviate the current challenges being seen in our health system, including fast-tracking additional treatment points in the RHH ED, which will come on-board as staffing allows in the first half of this year, and will double the treatment points currently available by 2026,” Mr Rockliff said.

Mr Rockliff said stage 2 of the 30-year RHH master plan included the refurbishment of wards in A Block, an expansion of ICU capacity, and a revamped J Block to accommodate inpatient services.

Preliminary work is under way on stage 3, which will focus on improving subacute care and rehabilitation services in the south of the state.