GOVERNANCE REFORM CRITICAL TO FUTURE OF HEALTH IN TASMANIA

Tuesday 18 February 2020
President of AMA Tasmania, Prof. John Burgess today welcomed the Government’s announcement of much needed reform of the governance system within health.

Professor Burgess said that AMA Tasmania had been calling for reform over the past year and today’s announcement was a step in the right direction.

“We are pleased with the positive engagement we have had with the Minister and the Secretary of Health since their appointments on the issue of governance reform.

“Reform is critical to underpin proper accountability and management of our health system.

“Without reform we were concerned that inertia in decision-making would pervade and room for buck passing would continue, doing little to assist with managing the growing demand pressures within our hospitals, which have been struggling to cope over the past twelve months in particular.

“Reform is ongoing, and we see the proposed way forward as being a critical step towards a system, which will provide for far better accountability and lines of authority from the Secretary to the floor staff within our hospitals.

“However, we wait to see the detail as to whether this reform goes far enough to provide the level of autonomy required within hospitals to get on with the job and not be held back by top heavy bureaucracy slowing decision making down and thereby not allowing for efficient and effective responses to be made on the ground to
emerging problems.”

Professor Burgess said that this announcement was at a high level and would have important consequences for the operations of hospitals.

“We expect that the next level of detail will ensure that the systems are in place to enable hospital teams to deliver much needed services to patients. This, in conjunction with the recent budget announcement, should help to improve the delivery of services within our hospitals if there is sufficient devolution of decision-making at the coalface.

“We look forward to engaging with the Minister and Secretary on the detail as the reform is rolled out as to how it will be practically delivered and what impact it will have in an operational sense.” ENDS
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MEDIA CONTACT:
AMA Tasmania – Prof. John Burgess – 0417302803
Communications AMA Tasmania – Nadine Cove – 0409 159 285