Extra help in place to fight flu

THE 22 new beds promised at the refurbished repatriation hospital in Hobart will open in July to help the Tasmanian health system cope with the flu season.

The hospital beds are the result of a $7 million refurbishment to turn office space at the hospital into a clinical ward.

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said nursing staff were being recruited, ready for the July opening.

Last year, 21 people died in Tasmania due to influenza including six at an aged care home at Latrobe. There were 3505 cases of influenza in the state last year, compared with 1055 in 2016.

“This is the best prepared Tasmania has ever been before a known flu season,” Mr Ferguson said yesterday.

He said turning offices into a hospital ward was a much better result than the “flirtation” with the concept of medi-motels.

Labor’s Sarah Lovell claimed no additional funding had been put up to employ extra staff for the repatriation hospital and she was concerned the staff needed would come from the already stressed existing workforce.