AMA CALLS ON TASMANIAN POLITICIANS TO WORK COLLABORATIVELY TO FIND SOLUTIONS

“AMA Tasmania recognises that there are no quick fixes to our health system. Our population is growing and ageing, and chronic diseases are increasing leading to more significant stress and strain on our health system.

“Changing Tasmania’s Health Minister is not going to change the realities of increasing demand and increasing costs. Rather than concentrating on failures in the system, we are more interested in trying to work with the Minister and management to find solutions. To this end, we call upon the Minister, in the spirit of bi-partisanship, to invite the Opposition to participate in the upcoming Summit.

“What would be useful would be for a major update of Tasmania’s strategic health plan to be developed in conjunction with medical professionals, that looks at the entirety of our health system and how our preventative health programs, primary health and acute care systems can best manage this ever-increasing demand.

“In the short term, what we need is more resources for both staffing and capital investment in new hospital infrastructure around the state.

“In the upcoming budget, the AMA will be looking for more resources to staff our hospitals 24/7 to allow for more beds to be opened on wards, taking the pressure off our emergency departments and allowing for more elective surgery.

“The test for this Minister and this Government will be in the forthcoming budget to provide these resources to address the problems in our hospitals.”

ENDS
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MEDIA CONTACT

Professor John Burgess – President AMA Tasmania – 0417 302 803
Lara Giddings – CEO AMA Tasmania – 0400 417 160