AMA quizzes Michael Ferguson on health system governance

The doctors’ lobby has taken the unprecedented step of feeding questions to Labor and the Greens ahead of the Health Minister’s appearance at budget estimates.

AMA Tasmania President Professor Dr John Burgess has released more than 25 questions it wants answered on funding, governance and future planning for the Tasmanian Health Service. Picture: SUPPLIED

THE doctors’ lobby has taken the unprecedented step of feeding questions to Labor and the Greens ahead of the Health Minister’s appearance at budget estimates in a bid to get answers on the state of Tasmania’s health system.

The Australian Medical Association has released more than 25 questions it wants answered on funding, governance and future planning for the Tasmanian Health Service.

The THS last week came under fire in an Auditor-General’s report that examined emergency department access across public hospitals.

AMA Tasmania president John Burgess yesterday described the Auditor-General’s report, which pointed to about a decade of issues in the health system, as a “wake-up call”.

“After four years of Tasmania’s Health Service bureaucracy flipping between different organisational structures that just don’t seem able to address the problems faced by the staff and patients in our public hospital system, we clearly believe it’s time for the facts and truth of the situation to be put out in the open for the public to judge.” Professor Burgess said.

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Prof Burgess said the AMA wanted to hear the factual answers to a list of basic and important questions such as:

HOW many physical beds spaces are there in our major hospitals?

ARE there enough nurses employed by the THS to keep open the beds we have, let alone open new ones?

IS next year’s state budget going to be employing more hospital staff and opening more beds or will it result in cuts to staff and service capacity in our hospitals.

IF there are to be staff cuts in the THS, will these be in the bureaucracy or in our public hospitals?

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Health Minister Michael Ferguson will be grilled on health for six hours tomorrow.

Questions are expected from Liberal MPs Joan Rylah and John Tucker, Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff, and Labor leader Rebecca White and her Labor frontbenchers Scott Bacon and Michelle O’Byrne.

Mr Ferguson was last week targeted in Question Time by Labor and Greens MPs and was the subject of a no-confidence motion that was moved by Ms White on Thursday.

The no-confidence motion — the second moved by Labor within the past month or so — was not argued after the Government used its numbers to vote against debating the issue.

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