A lack of locums has forced the ED at Latrobe’s Mersey Community Hospital to close

The emergency department at a Tasmanian hospital will be forced to close, with patients being asked to travel 40 minutes for medical help.

THE emergency department at a Tasmanian hospital will be forced to close due to a lack of doctors.

Latrobe’s Mersey Community Hospital‘s emergency department will close from 10pm until 8am due to a lack of locums and North-West residents who believe they have coronavirus symptoms have been told to go to Burnie.

Authorities are yet to confirm if two recent cases in the Devonport area – one a nurse at the Mersey – had become infected through community transmission and have dismissed a notice being shared on social media which claims to be a letter to a Devonport clinic confirming that was the case.

Health Minister Sarah Courtney said the North-West Regional Hospital had been reconfigured so it could take both COVID-19 emergency cases and other emergency patients could be seen in two separate areas.

The Commonwealth-funded Mersey Community Hospital at Latrobe has been forced to close its emergency department.

She said the coronavirus clinic at the Mersey was still operating but people with symptoms should go to Burnie.

“We need to deliver safe health services and the decision to close the ED at the Mersey was made by the head of that department,” Ms Courtney said.

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“The Mersey has always relied on locums and the withdrawal of some locum services has impacted the hospital’s ability to deliver services. Many locums are from interstate and some have worked in COVID-19 positive hospitals on the mainland.”

Chief Medical Officer Tony Lawyer said the source of the infection of the two Devonport cases had not yet been identified and might never be.

Dr Lawler said a email circulating on social media that says GP clinics in the Devonport area had been notified that community transmission had been confirmed was false.

“I have seen the email doing the rounds but it cannot have come from me because I am not in a position to say yet where the infection in those two cases came from,” he said.

“We are still trying to establish a link between them and cruise ships.

“We are also tracking test results from GPS and clinics in the Devonport area to see if they help tie in the two case in question,” he said.