Airconditioner works underway at LGH, despite $4m upgrade last year

The Department of Health state they are seeing peaks of 27 and 28 degrees inside wards at the Launceston General Hospital. How they plan to fix the aircon problem.

Launceston General Hospital. Picture: Amber Wilson

More work will be required to develop a permanent solution to temperature control issues in older parts of the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) after a recent $4m project did not work as intended.

Patients and staff in the LGH’s D-block have been complaining of stifling temperatures in wards and airconditioning systems unable to cope with the heat.

Department of Health Secretary Dale Webster said it was working with external engineering experts to find a permanent solution to the airconditioning issues.

“We know that it’s uncomfortable in some of our wards, particularly the D-Block,” Mr Webster said.

Department of Health Secretary Dale Webster speaks to the media at Ambulance Tasmania headquarters in Hobart on Monday, December 23, 2024.

“This is despite the fact that – based on feedback over the last few years – we spent over $4m upgrading 10 chillers across the LGH.

“It didn’t help as we expected, so we are now working with experts to upgrade other parts of the D-Block, in particular, so that we can actually fix this problem permanently with better temperatures in all of the wards across the D-Block.”

Mr Webster said he was unsure when the upgrades would be completed.

“But we will start them as soon as we get the advice,” he said.

“We’ve sought the advice from engineers and heating, ventilation and airconditioning proponents – starting last week – and we’re expecting that report next week, and we will start work as soon as we can after that time.”

According to Mr Webster, the $4m of work completed last winter has been unable to cope with the hot weather over the last few days.

“D-Block is a 1980s build,” he said.

“It was deliberately built without aircon in the patient rooms for infection prevention and control reasons.

Launceston General Hospital. Picture: Amber Wilson

“We need to revisit that and make sure we can get air into those rooms to cool them down.”

Mr Webster said no patients had been affected by the hot weather in terms of complicating their medical treatment.

“But of course, they’ve all been affected because it’s hot in there.

“There were reports that it got to 36 degrees in some rooms.

“But I can report that since we put in calibrated thermostats that are monitoring the temperatures in the rooms, we’re actually seeing peaks of 27, 28 degrees – so way below those reported temperatures late last week.”

In the interim, Mr Webster said two portable cooling units had been brought in to cool down the wards.

“They’re not the portable units you buy at Kmart; these are large commercial units and we’ve been able to rig them in a way that they actually exhaust air into our current exhaust system for our airconditioning.

“So that’s increased the amount of airconditioning – particularly in 6D, which is the most affected ward – and that’s helping bring some of the temperatures down.”

Other works and planned upgrades for heating and cooling systems on D-Block include replacing window tinting and seals, cleaning exhausts, and an impending trial of sun-blocking blinds.