AMA STANDS READY TO ASSIST GOVERNMENT

AMA President Dr John Davis today said, “the AMA welcomes Premier Hodgman’s recognition that the capacity of the Tasmanian public hospital system is “far from good enough”.

Further, “building this new section of the hospital has taken a toll. Bed block and DEM ramping and higher elective surgery lists are the evidence of the pain we are going through, this must not be in vain, we must use the new facilities to their best advantage and be ready for the ever-increasing demand on our health system”.

“The capacity of our public hospitals to meet reasonable community demand for acute and subacute inpatient services is being overwhelmed, in no small part, because of old, inadequate and superseded infrastructure,” Dr Davis said.

While achieving adequate staffing levels in our hospitals is critical, first and foremost, the staff need suitably sized ward and work environments in which to care for their patients.

Dr Davis said "that reforming a health system that is disconnected and dysfunctional, requires more than partial solutions. While the new RHH K-Block building is an important start, this building provides no solution to the undersized RHH ED, the cramped under-capacity ICU or suboptimal arrangements for Acute Mental Health Services at RHH”.

The AMA welcomes every opportunity to work with state and federal governments to urgently progress the next phase of health care repair at Tasmania’s hospitals.

Dr Davis said that “if the Hodgman government was serious and committed to finishing the job they started at the RHH, then the AMA looked forward to engaging with the government on urgently progressing the next phase of RHH renovation, building the desperately L Block and refurbishing the RHH ED.”

ENDS

Media contact:

Tony Steven, CEO, AMA Tasmania, 0409 219 368