Labor leader Rebecca White says the AMA’s 25 questions for the Budget Estimates is a sign the health system is on life support

The fact the Australian Medical Association has released a list of 25 questions it wants answered from the state government shows how broken the health system is, says Labor leader Rebecca White.

Labor leader Rebecca White said Labor would also be seeking explanations from the government for its budget cuts. Picture: PATRICK GEE

IT was extraordinary that a peak doctor’s group couldn’t get answers to simple questions about the health system from the government, Labor said yesterday.

The Australian Medical Association has released a list of 25 questions it wants answers by the Government on funding, governance and future planning for the Tasmanian Health Service during Budget Estimates Committee Hearings in state parliament this week.

Ms White said the fact the list existed at all showed how broken the government’s relationship with doctors had become.

“Ordinarily they’d be able to raise these sorts of questions directly with the minister and the government of the day,” she said.

“Obviously that’s no longer possible for whatever reason so they’ve had to resort to asking the opposition parties to now seek answers for the questions that they have.”

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Ms White said Labor would also be seeking explanations from the government for its budget cuts.

“We have $450 million worth of cuts across the forward estimates for the budget,” she said.

“So we’ll be asking the Premier and the Health Minister to explain where those cuts will be coming from and if that impacts service delivery.

“I don’t think anyone can assume for a moment that it won’t because they have to make $450 million dollars worth of cuts — and the Treasurer’s been unable to explain how those cuts will be made.”

Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the government was doing all it could to improve the state’s health system.

“The Government has invested to meet growing demand in our health system, with 1000 more Tasmanian health service staff than five years ago and more than 130 additional beds,” he said.

“But we will never stop working to do better.”

“We fully acknowledge there are significant challenges in our health system, with longstanding issues within hospitals impeding effective discharge planning, bed management and co-ordination between emergency departments and inpatient areas.”

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Mr Ferguson said the government would work through the recommendations of last week’s damning Auditor Generals’ report into health.

“As noted by the Auditor-General, the Government had recognised these challenges and introduced significant reforms to the Tasmanian health system last year aimed at improving governance and the Tasmanian Health Service’s performance.

“We will continue to work to leverage these reforms and strengthen whole-of-hospital and system-wide leadership, co-ordination and accountability for addressing the longstanding barriers to improve patient flow.

“The Government will answer questions at Budget Estimates, as occurs each and every year.”

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