Greens tell Rockliff government to address ballooning part-time workforce in Tasmanian health system

More than 50 per cent of staff in Tasmania’s health system are working in a part-time capacity and the Greens say the situation is adding further fuel to the “staffing crisis”.

Greens health spokeswoman Cecily Rosol. Picture: Stephanie Dalton

Tasmania’s Health Department should incentivise staff to increase their working hours, with more than half the workforce now employed in a part-time capacity, the Greens say.

The department’s 2023-24 annual report shows that 54 per cent of employees in the health system are either permanent part-time or on fixed-term part-time contracts.

The number of part-time health workers in Tasmania has increased by 45 per cent since 2017-18, with 9116 of the total 16,856-strong workforce working reduced hours.

Greens health spokeswoman Cecily Rosol says it’s concerning that while the number of full-time employees grew by just 349 people in the past three years, the part-time workforce ballooned by 733.

Increasing numbers of healthcare staff in Tasmania are working in a part-time capacity. Picture: iStock

She wants the state government to co-operate with health unions and introduce an incentive scheme to encourage part-time healthcare employees to work full-time.

“Everyone knows there’s a huge staffing crisis in health. It’s having a terrible effect on patients, and it’s making conditions nearly impossible for workers,” Ms Rosol said.

“There’s no silver bullet to addressing this problem, but the government should be considering all options that could make a difference.”

Ms Rosol said the Greens “fully support” staff working part-time if that was their preference but there were improvements that should be made to the composition of the workforce.

“This isn’t about forcing anyone to increase their work hours – it’s about providing some extra encouragement to people who might be open to taking on more hours,” she said.

Government minister Nick Duigan said the Liberals were providing incentives to attract and retain health workers to Tasmania and expected the workforce to have “the same or better conditions that they would … around the country”.

Government minister Nick Duigan. Picture: Linda Higginson

“Since April this year, we have added 1000 new employees into our health service. It is a really substantial effort from the government,” he said.

“We’re happy to see the Greens talking about a positive issue for Tasmania but the government is already leaning hard in and delivering an outcome in the area of health.”

The Tasmanian State Service Employee Survey 2024 recorded increasing disengagement within the public sector, showing that 10 per cent of employees were thinking of quitting.

The 2024-25 state budget allocated $12.9bn for health over the next four years, with $3.1bn of that investment set aside for this financial year.

There is $88m allocated over the forward estimates period to fund 44 new doctors and 25 nurses at the Royal Hobart Hospital emergency department, and another $10m to help retain nurses in Tasmania.

Originally published as Greens tell Rockliff government to address ballooning part-time workforce in Tasmanian health system